BS  2651  . P3 5  1923 
Peabody,  Francis  Greenwood, 
1847-1936. 

The  apostle  Paul  and  the 
modern  world 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/apostlepaulmoder00peab_0 


THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE 
MODERN  WORLD 


By  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 

The  Apostle  Paul  and  the  Modern  World 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character 
The  Christian  Life  in  the  Modern  World 
The  Approach  to  the  Social  Question 
The  Religious  Education  of  an  American 

Citizen 


THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND 
THE  MODERN  WORLD 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  TEACHING  OF  PAUL  IN 
ITS  RELATION  TO  SOME  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS 
PROBLEMS  OF  MODERN  LIFE 


BY 

FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 

PLUMMER  PROFESSOR  OF  CHRISTIAN  MORALS  (EMERITUS) 
IN  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


Npm  fork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1923 


All  rights  reseved 


Copyright,  1923 

By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.  Published  March,  1923. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


To 


G.  F.  M. 

HOW  MANY  SCHOLAR-MENDICANTS  HAVE  SOUGHT 
TO  SHARE  THE  BOUNTY  OF  YOUR  GENEROUS  THOUGHT; 
AS  CHILDREN  HOLD  THEIR  LITTLE  CUPS  BELOW 
TO  CATCH  THE  FOUNTAIN’S  LAVISH  OVERFLOW ! 

HOW  SWIFT  YOUR  JUDGMENTS,  PIERCING  ALL  PRETENCE 
WITH  THE  KEEN  RAPIER  OF  OMNISCIENCE; 

YET  HOW  SERENELY  PASS  YOUR  ARDUOUS  DAYS, 
UNSCATHED  BY  CIRCUMSTANCE,  UNSPOILED  BY  PRAISE! 

THROUGH  THE  CONFUSING  MAZE  OF  HISTORY 
YOU  WALK  ASSURED,  UNHESITATING,  FREE; 

THE  WORLD  BECOMES  YOUR  PROVINCE;  AT  YOUR  FEET 
THE  EAST  AND  WEST  AS  DOCILE  LEARNERS  MEET. 

YET  FROM  THESE  HEIGHTS  OF  WISDOM  YOU  DESCEND 
TO  STRENGTHEN,  COUNSEL,  REASSURE,  BEFRIEND; 

AND  IN  YOUR  AMPLE  AND  TRANSFORMING  CREED 
TRUTH  BECOMES  SERVICE,  KNOWLEDGE  TURNS  TO  DEED. 

SUCH  IS  THE  SCHOLAR  AFTER  PAUL’S  OWN  HEART; 

FROM  LESSER  MEN  AND  MOTIVES  SET  APART, 

YET  GLADLY  RECKONING  AS  LEARNING’S  PRICE 
THE  OPPORTUNITY  FOR  SACRIFICE. 

BEWILDERED  MINDS,  CAUGHT  IN  THE  TURBID  STREAM 
OF  MUDDY  LOGIC  OR  OF  DRIFTING  DREAM, 

TOUCH  SOLID  GROUND  AGAIN  AS  THEY  RECALL 
THE  SANER  TEACHINGS  OF  A  MODERN  PAUL. 


PREFACE 


The  Library  of  the  Theological  School  in  Har¬ 
vard  University  contains  more  than  two  thousand 
volumes  dealing  with  the  life  and  letters  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  or  more  than  one  for  each  year  since 
his  time,  not  to  speak  of  the  multitudinous  com¬ 
mentaries  and  histories  in  which  the  teaching  of 
Paul  has  an  important  place.  Each  detail  or 
event  of  the  apostle’s  experience  has  been  explored 
with  scrupulous  attention, — his  training  and  tem¬ 
perament,  his  language  and  learning,  his  journeys 
and  adventures,  his  theology  and  ethics.  Nothing 
could  seem  more  superfluous,  not  to  say  presumptu¬ 
ous,  than  to  burden  the  shelves  with  another 
volume  on  so  familiar  and  exhausted  a  theme. 

Two  considerations,  however,  may,  in  some  de¬ 
gree,  reassure  one  who  proposes  a  limited  inquiry. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  teaching  of  Paul  has  been 
within  the  last  few  years  clarified  in  an  unprec¬ 
edented  degree  by  researches  which  were  primarily 
concerned,  not  with  his  career,  or,  indeed,  with 
the  Christian  tradition,  but  with  the  state  of  the 
Roman  Empire  in  Paul’s  time,  and  with  the  alien 
faiths  which  had  there  gained  a  hearing.  That 
these  influences  are  perceptible  in  many  of  the 
ideas  which  are  characteristic  of  Paul  has  become 
generally  recognized  by  modern  scholars;  but  it 


Vll 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


still  remains  an  open  question  whether  such  influ¬ 
ences  were  incidental  or  fundamental;  whether  the 
apostle  appropriated  this  foreign  material  as 
contributions  to  his  new  faith,  or  yielded  to  its 
pressure  so  far  as  to  become  responsible  for  a  new 
type  of  Christianity.  No  problem  of  New  Testa¬ 
ment  criticism  is  more  crucial  than  this;  few  have 
been  more  warmly  debated;  and  the  time  seems  to 
have  come  when  the  results  of  research  may  be 
estimated  and  applied  by  less  instructed  minds. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  not  less  significant  transition 
is  to  be  observed  in  the  habit  of  mind  now  pre¬ 
vailing  in  the  modem  world.  Never  before,  per¬ 
haps,  in  Christian  history  was  religion  regarded 
with  so  strange  a  mingling  of  indifference  and  re¬ 
sponsiveness,  of  abandonment  of  dogma  and  desire 
for  faith,  of  reaction  from  formalism  and  passion 
for  reality,  of  neutrality  toward  institutional 
Christianity  and  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ.  This 
temper  of  the  present  time  has  been  for  the  most 
part  expressed  in  a  new  attitude  toward  the  person 
of  Jesus,  as  the  Master  of  souls  rather  than  the 
source  of  dogma,  as  claiming  obedience  rather  than 
definition,  and  as  welcoming  a  discipleship  not 
of  intellectual  conformity  but  of  moral  transfor¬ 
mation.  An  unembarrassed  and  spiritual  loyalty 
is,  it  is  now  generally  agreed,  the  only  type  of 
Christian  fellowship  which  is  likely  to  commend 
itself  to  the  mind  of  the  modem  world. 

The  time  seems  to  have  arrived  when  the  same 
habit  of  mind  must  be  recognized  as  one  proceeds 
from  the  teaching  of  Jesus  to  that  of  Paul.  Few 


PREFACE 


IX 


influences  in  human  history  have  been  so  persist¬ 
ently  utilized  as  that  of  Paul  to  reduce  a  gospel 
of  life  and  motion  to  a  lifeless  system  and  a  fixed 
form.  Augustinianism  and  Calvinism,  creeds  of 
predestination  and  election,  doctrinal  confessions 
and  sacramental  practices,  have  been,  for  the 
most  part,  modifications  or  applications  of  what  is 
known  as  Paulinism.  The  standards  and  tests 
still  widely  accepted  as  the  essentials  of  Christian 
faith  have  been,  in  the  main,  derived  from  the 
Epistles  of  Paul  rather  than  from  the  first  three 
Gospels.  The  doctrinal  scheme  thus  elaborately 
devised  and  conscientiously  expounded  has,  how¬ 
ever,  become  so  remote  from  the  spirit  of  the  mod¬ 
ern  world  as  to  run  grave  risk  of  being  altogether 
abandoned.  It  is  not  so  much  that  the  ideas  thus 
derived  from  Paul  are  denied  as  that  they  are  ig¬ 
nored.  Simplicity  and  reality  have  supplanted,  as 
the  essentials  of  faith,  complexity  and  tradition. 
If  religion  is  to  survive  in  the  modern  world,  it  must 
be,  not  through  consent  to  dogma,  but  through 
consecration  of  life.  Doctrinal  statements  must 
change  with  the  passing  generations,  while  motives 
and  ideals  may  remain  undisturbed.  Confessions 
and  definitions  are  the  enclosing  shores  between 
which  the  stream  of  the  religious  life  must  flow. 
The  shores  are  shaped  by  the  varying  current  and 
take  the  curve  of  its  flood  or  drought;  but  the 
stream  descends  from  higher  sources  and  finds  its 
own  winding  way.  To  trace  the  unexhausted 
stream  through  its  shifting  course;  to  discover 
continuity  in  change,  the  timeless  in  the  temporary, 


X 


PREFACE 


and  the  essential  in  the  incidental, — this  is  the 
perennial  problem  which  confronts  students  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  it  meets  them  with 
dramatic  interest  as  they  review  once  more  the 
familiar  story  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  The  complex 
environment  of  his  time,  and  the  not  less  complex 
ideas  which  his  fertile  and  subtle  mind  expressed, 
have,  it  would  seem,  disguised  from  many  readers 
the  real  Paul;  and  it  may  not  be  untimely  to  re¬ 
affirm  the  grounds  of  his  authority  and  leadership 
among  the  unprecedented  problems  of  the  modern 
world. 

The  following  chapters  are  greatly  indebted  to 
the  accurate  learning  of  Professor  Henry  J.  Cad¬ 
bury  of  Harvard  University,  who,  without  assum¬ 
ing  responsibility  for  conclusions,  has  scrutinized 
many  statements,  verified  or  corrected  many  de¬ 
tails,  and  prepared  an  index. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Problem  of  Paul  . 


The  Man 


CHAPTER  II 


The  Letters 


CHAPTER  III 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Theology  of  Paul  and  the  Modern  World  . 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Religion  of  Paul  and  the  Modern  World  . 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Ethics  of  Paul  and  the  Modern  World 


CHAPTER  VII 

Messenger  and  Master 


PAGE 

I 


.  40 


72 


.  127 


.  174 


228 


.  256 


XI 


THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE 
MODERN  WORLD 


THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE 
MODERN  WORLD 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 

In  a  series  of  short  studies,1  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  examine  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  their  relation  to  the  needs  and  problems 
of  the  modern  world.  Throughout  these  volumes 
it  was  assumed  that,  while  many  problems  of 
criticism  and  interpretation  may  remain  unsolved 
or  even  unconsidered,  one  may  derive  from  the 
first  three  Gospels  enough  unquestioned  teaching  to 
provide  practical  guidance  in  the  affairs  of  modem 
life.  Much  which  is  reported  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
Palestinian  in  spirit  and  Oriental  in  form;  much 
bears  the  marks  of  revision  or  adaptation;  the 
Messianic  hope  colors,  if  it  does  not  distort,  the 
Master’s  sayings.  Yet  through  these  intervening 
obscurations,  as  through  a  mist  which  at  times 
sweeps  over  the  landscape  and  then  lifts  and  leaves 
the  horizon  clear,  one  may  discern  the  figure  of 

1  “Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question,”  1900;  “Jesus  Christ 
and  the  Christian  Character,”  1905;  “The  Christian  Life  in  the 
Modern  World,”  1914. 


2  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

a  consistent,  if  not  a  completely  interpretable, 
teacher,  surveying  events  as  one  who  stood  above 
them,  where  he  could  see  in  clear  outline  the  de¬ 
tails  of  the  world  below.  “  Jesus  over  the  heads 
of  his  reporters,”  is,  as  Matthew  Arnold  affirmed, 
a  judicious  maxim  for  the  reader  of  these  artless 
records.1  Unsophisticated  and  varied  as  the 
narratives  may  be,  they  reveal,  in  some  degree, 
the  personality  which  they  imperfectly  compre¬ 
hend,  and  the  temporary  incidents  which  they  re¬ 
cord  become  the  medium  of  his  timeless  teaching. 

Jesus  himself  welcomed  this  indirect  and  sug¬ 
gestive  way  of  instruction.  To  him  the  most  con¬ 
genial  form  of  teaching  was  by  parable.  The  in¬ 
cidental  and  familiar  were  to  his  mind  symbols  of 
the  universal  and  eternal.  The  trivial  round  and 
common  task  were  eloquent  with  messages  of 
God’s  love  and  prophecies  of  God’s  kingdom.  He 
did  not,  as  a  rule,  define,  he  delineated;  he  did  not 
tell  what  the  kingdom  of  God  was,  he  told  what 
it  was  like.  “Jesus  said  all  this  to  the  crowds  in 
parables;  he  never  spoke  to  them  except  in  a  par¬ 
able.”  2 

This  habit  of  parabolic  teaching  involved,  how¬ 
ever,  its  own  risks.  Not  every  hearer  could  follow 
the  Master  in  his  swift  and  sensitive  interpretations. 

1  “Literature  and  Dogma,”  1873,  p.  153:  “We  conceive  Jesus 
as  almost  as  much  over  the  heads  of  his  disciples  and  reporters 
as  he  is  over  the  heads  of  so-called  Christians  now.” 

2  Matt.  xiii.  34.  The  citations  from  the  New  Testament 
throughout  this  volume  are,  with  a  few  exceptions,  from  the 
scholarly  and  suggestive  version  of  Professor  James  Moffatt: 
“The  New  Testament,  A  New  Translation.”  Doran,  1913. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


3 


Hearing  they  might  hear,  and  might  not  under¬ 
stand.  Some  would  be  ensnared  in  the  unessen¬ 
tial  and  miss  the  universal;  some  would  miscon¬ 
ceive  the  intended  lesson,  and  misapply  the  Master’s 
words.  Only  he  that  had  ears  to  hear  could  hear 
aright.  “Have  you  understood  all  this?  ”  1  Jesus 
said  to  his  followers.  His  gospel,  that  is  to  say, 
is  not  automatic  in  operation.  It  presupposes 
preparedness  and  susceptibility.  It  assumes  in 
a  disciple,  not  pious  emotion  alone,  but  insight 
and  common  sense.  The  same  responsiveness 
which  the  Master  expected  of  those  who  heard 
him  is  still  demanded  of  each  modern  reader  or 
expositor.  The  incidental  is  still  the  instrument 
of  the  Eternal.  Through  the  simple  story  of  the 
Master’s  word  and  work  and  wanderings,  as  through 
superficial  signs  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  which 
indicate  hidden  ore,  the  deeper  deposits  of  his 
spiritual  insight  and  wisdom  must  be  sought.  The 
interpretation  of  the  Gospels  presents  a  perennial 
challenge  both  to  intellectual  discrimination  and 
to  spiritual  discernment.  The  modern  student, 
like  the  first  disciples,  must  have  ears  to  hear. 

Here  is  the  secret  of  that  undiminished  delight 
with  which  each  generation  renews  the  study  of 
the  Gospels.  Ill-equipped  as  one  may  be  with 
critical  erudition,  indifferent  as  he  may  be  to  many 
controversies  which  have  vexed  the  theologians, 
insoluble  as  many  problems  which  have  divided 
the  Church  may  appear,  there  remains  at  his 
command  in  the  Master’s  teaching  a  residuum 

1  Matt.  xiii.  51. 


4  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

of  reality,  which  tempts  even  the  untrained  in¬ 
quirer  to  reexamination  and  research.  The  prob¬ 
lems  of  the  modern  world  are  infinitely  more 
complex  and  bewildering  than  those  which  were  en¬ 
countered  among  the  plain  conditions  of  a  Galilean 
ministry;  but  the  view  of  life  from  above  which 
Jesus  maintained,  the  approach  from  within  which 
he  commended,  and  the  recognition  of  movement 
toward  a  spiritual  end  which  fortified  his  hope, 
still  remain  the  principles  which  must  sustain  and 
restrain  the  social  order  of  the  modern  world. 
Vast  and  varied  undertakings  of  industry,  states¬ 
manship  and  compassion  confront  one  to-day  which 
Jesus  could  not  foresee;  but  he  still  offers  to  those 
who  must  explore  the  dark  problems  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  time  a  key,  a  lamp,  and  a  hope.  The  view 
of  life  from  above  unlocks  the  world;  the  approach 
from  within  illuminates  it;  and  the  assurance  of  a 
spiritual  intention  encourages  each  faltering  step. 
The  Christian  character  must  adjust  itself  to  new 
conditions  and  unprecedented  temptations;  but 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  remains  of  undiminished 
applicability,  and  the  interpretation  of  the  modem 
world  is  still  committed  to  the  unsophisticated 
mind  and  the  responsive  will. 

These  conclusions,  reached  in  preceding  volumes, 
even  if  they  be  imperfectly  grasped  and  inade¬ 
quately  applied,  appear  to  give  one  at  least  a  firm 
foothold  among  the  difficult  conditions  of  modern 
experience  and  service.  Personal  character  with  its 
tasks  of  duty,  and  social  morality  with  its  undertak¬ 
ings  of  service,  are  sustained  and  clarified  by  the 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


5 


words  and  deeds  which  the  Gospels  vividly,  even  if 
incompletely,  portray.  The  modern  man  who  gives 
himself  to  a  discipleship  which  is  not  of  the  lips 
alone  but  of  the  heart,  may,  it  would  seem,  walk 
steadily  and  straight  through  the  vicissitudes 
of  his  experience,  as  one  who,  whatever  ignorance 
and  insufficiency  he  must  confess,  has  found  a 
way  which  leads  to  truth,  and  a  truth  which  ends 
in  life. 

No  sooner,  however,  does  one  reach  this  sense 
of  confidence  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  than  he  is 
confronted  by  a  new  and  perplexing  problem.  As 
he  passes  from  the  synoptic  Gospels  to  the  letters 
of  Paul,  he  becomes  aware  of  another  climate  of 
thought  and  hears  another  language  of  counsel  and 
instruction.  The  teaching  of  Jesus  was  persuasive, 
suggestive,  illuminating;  the  teaching  of  Paul  was 
didactic,  hortatory,  polemical.  Jesus  was  a  seer; 
Paul  was  an  advocate.  Jesus  synthesized  life; 
Paul  analyzed  it.  The  teaching  of  Jesus  had  the 
quality  of  timelessness;  Paul  was  a  man  of  his  own 
time,  facing  its  issues  and  involved  in  its  contro¬ 
versies.  The  thought  of  Jesus  habitually  moved 
above  the  level  of  contentious  aims;  the  thought 
of  Paul  wrestled  with  the  problems  of  his  age  and 
race.  Jesus  was  a  child  of  the  countryside.  In 
teaching  and  habit,  he  lived  close  to  nature.  The 
grain  and  the  harvest,  the  fig-tree  and  the  fruit, 
the  birds  in  their  flight,  the  hen  and  her  chickens, 
the  signs  of  weather,  the  sparrows  and  the  sheep, 
the  mountain,  the  lake  and  the  lilies, — all  these 
aspects  of  the  world  about  him  spoke  to  him  of  his 


6  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Father’s  kingdom.  In  his  need  of  intimate  com¬ 
munion  with  the  Father,  “he  went  up  the  hill  by 
himself  to  pray,”  and  “when  evening  came  he  was 
there  alone.”  1  In  the  letters  of  Paul,  on  the  other 
hand,  one  finds  hardly  an  allusion  to  these  homely 
aspects  of  nature.  The  distant  thunderings  of 
cosmic  tragedies  are  heard,  and  the  groaning 
and  travailing  of  creation;  but  the  field,  the  lake 
and  the  fishes  have  no  place  in  his  picture  of  the 
world.  Paul  is  a  child  of  the  city:  “a  citizen  [he 
says  of  Tarsus]  of  no  mean  city.”  2  “In  his  travels 
he  passed,  we  are  told,  through  some  of  the  most 
glorious  scenery  in  the  world.  Yet  in  his  writings 
there  is  not  so  much  as  a  blade  of  green  grass.”  3 
His  figures  of  speech  are  of  the  athletic  games,  the 
military  career,  the  work  of  builders  and  architects, 
the  procedure  of  the  law,  the  tutor-slave  leading 
a  child  to  school,  the  runners,  the  race,  and  the 
prize.  The  story  of  his  life  is  resonant  with  the 
tumult  of  the  cities.  In  Thessalonica  he  finds 
the  “town  in  an  uproar.”  4  At  Ephesus  “the  city 

1  Matt.  xiv.  23. 

2  Acts  xxi.  39,  A.  V. 

3  R.  H.  Strachan,  “The  Individuality  of  Saint  Paul,”  1916, 
p.  289.  H.  Jacoby,  “Neutestarnentliche  Ethik,”  1899,  s.  392,  offers 
the  interesting  conjecture:  “Where  we  are  impressed  by  the 
operation  of  natural  forces  the  Graeco-Roman  world  saw  the 
work  of  gods,  each  god  ruling  a  special  part  of  nature  .  .  . 
To  Paul,  however,  these  gods  were  daemons;  and  he  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  regard  nature  as  controlled  by  daemons.  ...  It  is 
quite  intelligible,  therefore,  that  with  this  view  of  nature,  as  a 
Divine  work  infected  by  daemons,  delight  in  its  contemplation 
should  be  greatly  diminished.” 

4  Acts  xvii.  5. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


7 


was  filled  with  confusion.”  1  He  followed  a  trade, 
and  “worked  night  and  day,  so  as  not  to  be  a 
burden  to  any;”  2  and  when,  at  Corinth,  he  found 
Aquila  and  Priscilla,  “as  he  belonged  to  the  same 
trade  he  stayed  with  them,  and  they  all  worked 
together.  (They  were  workers  in  leather  by 
trade.)  ”  3 

This  contrast  in  environment  is  reflected  in  the 
contrast  of  spiritual  temper.  The  tranquillity 
of  nature  broods  over  the  Gospels;  the  confusion 
of  the  crowd  is  reproduced  in  Paul’s  stormy  career. 
In  Jesus,  there  is  no  divided  allegiance,  as  of  a 
“  twice-born  ”  life.  In  Paul,  the  flesh  lusteth  against 
the  spirit  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh;  and  the 
world  about  him,  instead  of  suggesting  peace  of 
mind  and  communion  with  God,  seems  a  perilous 
snare  from  which  he  struggles  to  be  free.  The 
prevailing  habit  of  mind  in  Jesus  is  as  serene  as  a 
Palestinian  sunset;  the  experience  of  Paul  is  as 
tumultuous  as  the  noisy  trafficking  in  a  city’s 
narrow  streets.  The  soul  of  Jesus  is  like  a  star 
and  dwells  apart;  the  soul  of  Paul  is  like  a  man 
groping  his  way  through  the  dark,  who  looks  up 
to  the  star  and  is  shown  his  path.  Jesus  walks 
on  the  waves  of  controversy  and  they  are  calmed; 
Paul  struggles  through  them  and  wins  his  way  to 
the  shore.  It  is  suggestive  to  recall  the  fact  that 
in  the  comprehensive  Calendar  of  Saints  approved 
by  ecclesiastical  authorities,  from  St.  Joseph  the 
father  of  Jesus  to  the  last  subject  of  canonization, 
the  Apostle  Paul  has  held  a  very  minor  place.  The 

1  Acts  xix.  29.  2 II  Thess.  iii.  8.  3  Acts  xviii,  2, 3. 


8  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

most  conspicuous  convert  to  the  new  faith,  its 
hero,  preacher  and  martyr,  beyond  all  comparison 
the  most  effective  agent  in  its  propagation,  Paul 
is  rarely  one  of  the  figures  which  Christian  art 
has  loved  to  commemorate,  or  before  whose  shrine 
the  faithful  have  loved  to  bend.  He  is  seldom 
portrayed  except  as  the  companion  of  Peter,  and 
while  the  chief  apostle  holds  the  keys,  Paul  is  to  be 
recognized  by  the  less  sacred  symbol  of  the  sword. 
“Is  there,”  asks  Mrs.  Jameson,  “among  the  thou¬ 
sand  representations  of  the  apostle  Paul,  one  on 
which  the  imagination  can  rest  completely  satisfied? 
I  know  not  one.”  1  The  fact  is  that  St.  Paul  was 
not  a  saint,  but  a  very  human  hero,  conscious  of 
grave  blunders  and  misdirected  energy;  confessing 
that  to  will  was  present  with  him  but  that  it  was 
hard  to  perform  that  which  was  good;  brought 
into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  was  in  his 
members,2  yet  confident  that  the  law  of  the  spirit 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  had  made  him  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death.3  He  can  still  use  violent 
language,  and  even  “consign”  a  sinner  “to  Satan.”4 
He  often  fails  of  that  love  which  is  “never  irritated, 
never  resentful”;5  he  does  not  “put  up  with 
fools  .  .  .  readily.”  6  It  could  not  be  said  of  him, 
as  was  satirically  said  of  Gladstone,  that  he  was 
“without  one  redeeming  vice.”  Not  as  a  saint, 
or  as  though  “already  perfect,”  7  but  as  one  in 

1  “Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,”  ed.  1857, 1.  219,  225. 

2  Rom.  vii.  23,  A.  V.  3  Rom.  viii.  2,  A.  V. 

4 1  Cor.  v.  5.  Cf.  I  Cor.  xvi.  22;  Gal.  i.  8;  v.  12;  Phil.  iii.  2. 

5 1  Cor.  xiii.  5.  6 II  Cor.  xi.  19.  7  Phil.  iii.  12. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


9 


whom  “  sin  resulted  .  .  .  in  all  manner  of  covetous 
desire”; 1  as  one  who  cried  “Who  is  weak,  and  I 
do  not  feel  his  weakness?  ”  2  this  masterful  leader, 
as  he  went  his  way,  bore  with  him  always  the 
chastening  remembrance  of  a  misused  past. 

“  Saint,  did  I  say?  with  your  remembered  faces, 

Dear  men  and  women,  whom  I  sought  and  slew ! 

Ah  when  we  mingle  in  the  heavenly  places 
How  will  I  weep  to  Stephen  and  to  you ! 

“Oh  for  the  strain  that  rang  to  our  reviling 

Still,  when  the  bruised  limbs  sank  upon  the  sod, 

Oh  for  the  eyes  that  looked  their  last  in  smiling, 

Last  on  this  world  here,  but  their  first  on  God!  ”  3 

This  confession  of  spiritual  conflict,  this  sense 
of  a  divided  nature,  and  its  need  of  unremitting 
self-discipline  and  self-scrutiny,  which  has  seemed 
to  exclude  Paul  from  the  tranquil  company  of  the 
beatified,  is,  however,  precisely  what  brings  his 
teaching  peculiarly  near  to  the  struggles  of  ordinary 
human  lives.  To  pass  from  intimacy  with  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  to  companionship  with  the  spirit 
of  Paul  is  as  when  the  disciples  came  down  from 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  and  found  them¬ 
selves  amid  the  “faithless  and  perverse  genera¬ 
tion”4  at  the  mountain’s  foot.  The  figure  of 
Jesus  stands  above  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  his 
raiment  white  and  glistening;  the  figure  of  Paul 
stands  among  the  multitude,  sore  vexed  and 

1  Rom.  vii.  8.  2 II  Cor.  xi.  29. 

3  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  Poems ,  1870,  p.  5,  “St.  Paul.” 

4  Luke  ix.  41. 


IO  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

expelling  its  devil  by  fasting  and  prayer.  The 
Epistles  are  the  record  of  a  “ twice-born”  life, 
chastened  by  self-conquest,  but  never  beyond 
risk  of  reversion  or  defeat.  They  report  the  experi¬ 
ence,  not  of  a  saint  according  to  the  tradition  of 
the  mediaeval  Church,  but  of  that  emergence  of 
self-mastery  through  self-sacrifice  which  is  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  the  kind  of  sainthood  most 
appropriate  in  the  modern  world. 

Nor  are  these  striking  contrasts  all  that  meet 
one  as  he  proceeds  with  a  survey  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment.  There  is  soon  forced  upon  him  the  further 
discovery  that,  while  the  religion  of  Christians 
has  been  for  the  most  part  derived  from  the  Gospels, 
the  theology  of  Christians  has  been  not  less  con¬ 
spicuously  derived  from  the  Epistles  of  Paul;  that 
while  Christianity  as  a  way  of  life  has  been  the 
gift  of  Jesus,  Christianity  as  a  system  of  thought 
has  been  for  the  most  part  created  by  Paul.  The 
great  words  of  character, — Repentance,  Forgive¬ 
ness,  Life,  Peace, — make  the  substance  of  the 
Gospels;  the  great  words  of  dogma, — Redemption, 
Election,  Justification, — make  the  reiterated  teach¬ 
ing  of  the  Epistles.  The  Gospel  of  Paul  begins 
where  that  of  Jesus  ends,  with  the  story  of  the 
resurrection.  All  that  preceded  this  supreme 
event, — the  teaching  and  healing,  the  parables 
and  promises,  the  beatitudes,  the  gathering  of 
the  Twelve,  the  betrayal,  the  agony, — is  to  Paul 
either  unknown  or  unimportant.  His  theme  is 
the  risen  Christ,  the  cosmic  plan,  the  universalizing 
of  redemption.  The  mission  of  Jesus,  it  has  been 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


II 


said  by  a  most  competent  commentator,  becomes, 
according  to  Paul,  “not  to  do,  but  to  die.”  1  The 
discipleship  of  the  evangelists  is  the  product  of 
personal  intimacy;  the  discipleship  of  Paul  is  the 
product  of  a  vision.  “The  one  is  a  gospel  of  Jesus, 
and  the  other  a  gospel  about  Jesus.  The  one  is 
concerned  with  the  kindgom  of  God,  the  other 
with  eternal  life.  The  one  is  a  religion  of  social 
salvation,  the  other  a  religion  of  personal  salva¬ 
tion.”  2  As  one  born  out  of  due  time,  Paul  has 
seen  the  Lord,  yet  this  revelation  of  the  risen 
Christ  makes  him,  he  stoutly  asserts,  “not  one 
whit  inferior.”  3  “If  by  Christianity,”  a  Swiss 
theologian  has  concluded,  “we  understand  faith 
in  Christ  as  the  heavenly  Son  of  God  Who  did  not 
belong  to  earthly  humanity,  but  Who  lived  in  the 
Divine  likeness  and  glory,  Who  came  down  from 
Heaven  to  earth,  Who  entered  into  humanity  and 
took  upon  Himself  a  human  form  that  He  might 
make  propitiation  for  men’s  sin  by  His  own  blood 
upon  the  Cross,  Who  was  then  awakened  from 
death  and  raised  to  the  Right  Hand  of  God  as 
the  Lord  of  His  own  people,  Who  now  intercedes 
for  those  who  believe  in  Him,  hears  their  prayers, 
guards  and  leads  them,  Who,  moreover,  dwells 
and  works  personally  in  each  of  those  who  believe 
in  Him,  Who  will  come  again  with  the  clouds  of 
heaven  to  judge  the  World,  Who  will  cast  down 

1 W.  Morgan,  “Dudleian  Lecture”  at  Harvard  University, 
1920  (unpublished). 

2  B.  W.  Bacon,  “Jesus  and  Paul,”  1921,  p.  34. 

3 II  Cor.  xi.  5. 


12  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

all  the  foes  of  God,  but  will  bring  His  own  people 
with  Him  into  the  home  of  heavenly  light  so  that 
they  may  become  like  unto  His  glorified  body — 
if  this  is  Christianity,  then  such  Christianity  was 
founded  principally  by  St.  Paul  and  not  by  our 
Lord.”  1 

Here  is  a  transition  which  may  well  occasion 
perplexity.  It  is  somewhat  disguised  from  the 
reader  of  the  New  Testament  by  the  intervention 
of  the  Book  of  Acts,  as  though  a  bridge  of  narrative 
carried  the  mind  from  one  view  of  life  to  another; 
it  is  still  further  arrested  by  the  lofty  mysticism 
of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  as  though  a  mountain  must 
be  scaled  before  the  new  view  could  be  reached; 
but  when  at  last  both  mountain  and  bridge  have 
been  passed  and  one  enters  the  region  of  the  Epis¬ 
tles,  he  seems  to  come  into  a  new  world.  Back 
of  him  lie  unstudied  narratives,  incidental  teachings, 
and  the  serenity  of  a  life  at  one  with  the  Universe. 
Before  him  lie  argument,  controversy,  passion, 
and  a  life  wrestling  with  its  own  defects,  with 
its  adversaries,  and  with  the  mystery  of  the  Uni¬ 
verse.  What  does  this  transition  mean?  Where 
does  it  leave  the  reader?  Who  was  the  real  founder 
of  Christianity?  Are  the  confessions  and  dogmas 
which  have  been  transmitted  as  of  the  essence 
of  the  Christian  religion  derived  from  meditations 
on  the  Gospels  or  from  elaborations  of  the  Epistles? 
Should  the  organization  of  disciples  which  pur¬ 
ports  to  represent  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  be  described  as  a  Christian,  or  as  a  Pauline 
1  A.  Meyer,  “Jesus  or  Paul?”  tr.  1909,  pp.  122  f. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


1 3 


Church?  Was  Paul  a  bold  innovator,  involving 
the  plain  Gospel  in  subtle  reflections  which  have 
perplexed  Christians  ever  since,  and  from  which 
one  should  turn  with  a  sense  of  glad  release  to  the 
simplicity  of  Christ,  or  was  Paul  the  first  to  realize 
the  meaning  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  give  it  a  su¬ 
preme  place  among  the  purposes  of  God?  Or  if, 
finally,  neither  of  these  conclusions  be  acceptable, 
can  there  be  discovered,  beneath  this  conspicuous 
divergence  of  teaching,  an  underlying  unity  of 
intention  which  may  justify  the  claim  made  by 
Paul  for  himself,  that,  with  all  his  subtlety  of  rea¬ 
soning  and  flights  of  mysticism,  he  was  still  nothing 
else  than  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ?  This  is  the 
problem  which  immediately  confronts  one  as  he 
passes  from  the  study  of  the  Gospels  to  the  more 
intricate  and  perplexing  considerations  which  are 
suggested  by  the  teaching  of  Paul. 

The  first  and  most  obvious  answer  to  this  prob¬ 
lem  was  given  in  undisguised  and  persuasive  form 
by  Renan:  “I  persist,  then,  in  concluding  that  in 
the  creation  of  Christianity  the  part  of  Paul  must 
be  regarded  as  far  inferior  to  that  of  Jesus.  One 
should,  indeed,  in  my  judgment,  rank  Paul  below 
Francis  of  Assisi  and  the  author  of  the  ‘Imitation/ 
each  of  whom  saw  Jesus  by  his  side.  .  .  .  After 
having  been  for  three  hundred  years,  thanks  to 
Protestant  Orthodoxy,  the  master  of  Christian 
theology,  Paul  is  witnessing  in  our  time  the  end  of 
his  reign.  Jesus,  on  the  other  hand,  is  more  living 
than  ever.  It  is  no  more  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
which  is  the  summary  of  Christianity,  but  the 


14  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  true  Christianity, 
which  will  survive  forever,  is  derived  from  the 
Gospels,  not  from  the  Epistles  of  Paul.  The 
writings  of  PLaul  have  been  a  peril  and  stumbling- 
block,  the  cause  of  the  chief  defects  of  Christian 
theology.  Paul  is  the  forerunner  of  the  subtle 
Augustine,  the  arid  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  sombre 
Calvinist,  the  sour  Jansenist,  the  ferocious  theology 
which  damns  and  predestines  to  damnation.  Jesus 
is  the  forerunner  of  those  who  seek  in  dreams  of  the 
ideal  a  rest  for  their  souls.  What  gives  vitality 
to  Christianity  is  that  which  we  know— little  as 
it  is — of  the  teaching  and  personality  of  Jesus.  The 
man  dedicated  to  the  ideal,  the  divine  poet,  the 
great  artist,  defies  the  changes  of  time.  He  alone 
sits  eternally  on  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Fa¬ 
ther.”  1 

The  same  conclusion  has  been  stated,  in  less 
gracious  manner,  by  a  German  scholar:  “Paul 
was  a  descendant  of  Abraham,  and,  even  after  his 
conversion,  a  Pharisee  from  head  to  foot.  Eight 
or  ten  years  after  the  death  of  Jesus,  and  after 
Paul  had  for  a  while  with  all  his  might  persecuted 
the  Nazarenes,  he  was  convinced  by  a  vision  on 
his  way  to  Damascus  that  in  attacking  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  Jesus  he  had  been  attacking  the  truth.  The 
event  may  be  psychologically  intelligible,  and  I 
do  not  in  the  least  doubt  that  so  fanatical  a  brain 
was  transformed  by  a  hallucination  into  the 
opposite  of  its  former  seif.  It  is,  however,  incred¬ 
ible  that  anyone  acquainted  with  history  should 
1  E.  Renan,  “Saint  Paul,”  Paris,  1869,  Ch.  XXII.  pp.  569  f. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


15 


have  any  confidence  in  this  Paul.  In  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Book  of  Acts  it  is  assumed  as  self- 
evident  that  one  who  desired  to  be  an  apostle  must 
have  lived  with  Jesus  as  a  witness  of  his  life.  Paul 
never  saw  Jesus,  not  to  speak  of  being  his  com¬ 
panion.  His  relations  with  Jesus  were,  first,  that 
.  of  hate  toward  the  disciples,  and  secondly,  that 
of  a  vision;  than  which  no  more  untrustworthy 
sources  of  historical  knowledge  could  be  named.  .  . 
All  that  Paul  says  of  Jesus  and  the  gospel  is  with¬ 
out  assurance  of  accuracy.  ...  It  is  the  logic 
of  theologians  to  affirm  that,  although  Israel  did 
not  recognize  its  Messiah  in  Jesus,  he  was  none 
the  less  the  Messiah  of  Israel;  and  that  although 
the  inner  group  which  had  received  the  gospel 
hated  Paul  as  a  corrupter  of  the  truth,  he  was 
none  the  less  the  true  representative  of  the  gospel. 
A  Church  may  justify  such  logic  if  it  will,  but  one 
who  has  any  scientific  training  must  decline  to 
follow  either  the  logic  or  those  who  respect  it.”  1 

To  these  drastic  criticisms  may  be  added  the  cyn¬ 
ical  contempt  of  that  master  of  paradoxes,  Nietz¬ 
sche.  “Who,  except  a  few  scholars,  knows  that 
in  it  [the  Bible]  is  the  story  of  one  of  the  most 
ambitious  and  importunate  of  souls,  a  supersti¬ 
tious  and  crafty  mind, — the  story  of  the  apostle 
Paul?  But  for  this  remarkable  story,  the  aber¬ 
rations  and  storms  of  such  a  mind,  of  such  a  soul, 
there  would  be  no  Christianity;  we  should  hardly 
have  heard  of  a  small  Jewish  sect  whose  teacher 
died  on  the  cross.  ...  If  the  writings  of  Paul 

1  Paul  de  Lagarde,  “Deutsche  Schriften,”  1892,  ss.  56  ff. 


1 6  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

had  been  frankly  read  with  a  candid  and  free 
spirit,  not  as  revelations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or 
without  reference  to  one’s  own  personal  need — 
and  for  1500  years  there  were  no  such  readers — the 
end  of  Christianity  would  long  ago  have  arrived.  .  . 
The  law  was  the  cross  to  which  he  felt  himself 
nailed.  .  .  .  Finally,  the  saving  thought  flashed 
on  him  in  a  vision,  as  was  natural  to  an  epileptic. 
.  .  .  ‘Here  is  the  way  out,’  he  said  to  himself; 
‘here  is  my  perfect  revenge.’  .  .  .  Then  the  ec¬ 
stasy  of  Paul  was  at  its  height.  .  .  .  All  shame, 
all  subjection,  all  discipline,  every  barrier  was  re¬ 
moved.  .  .  .  This  was  the  first  Christian,  the  au¬ 
thor  of  Christianity.  Before  him  were  only  a 
few  Jewish  sectaries.”  1 

1  Werke,  iv.  1895,  “Morgenrothe,”  68,  Der  erste  Christ.  This 
wholesale  abandonment  of  Paul  is  by  no  means  so  modern  and 
unprecedented  a  conclusion  as  some  of  its  advocates  appear  to 
assume.  Thus,  as  is  pointed  out  to  me  by  my  learned  colleague 
Professor  G.  F.  Moore,  in  the  tenth  century  A.  D.  the  Karaite 
theologian  Kirkisani  (3d  Treatise,  ch.  XVI.)  maintained  that 
“the  religion  of  the  Christians  as  practiced  at  the  present  time 
has  nothing  in  common  with  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  It  originated 
with  Paul,  who  ascribed  divinity  to  Jesus  and  prophetic  inspiration 
to  himself.”  (. Jewish  Encyclopedia ,  VII.  1904,  p.  509.)  This 
erudite  evidence  may  encourage  the  casual  conclusions  often 
reached  by  modern  amateurs;  e.  g.,  Ignatius  Singer,  “The  Rival 
Philosophies  of  Jesus  and  of  Paul,”  London,  1919;  a  study  which, 
the  author  says,  was  “forced  upon  me  [him]  in  connection  with 
the  education  of  my  [his]  children,”  and  in  which  a  preface  by  J. 
C.  Flower  remarks  that  the  author’s  “attitude  to  Paul,  and  his  in¬ 
terpretation  of  Paulinism,  is  vehement  to  the  point  of  contempt.” 
“Paul,”  according  to  this  non-professional  critic,  “became  an 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  driven  to  it  by  chagrin,  and  not  by  the 
grace  of  God.”  “The  Pauline  shadow  is  cast  back  into  the  ante- 


THE  PROBLEM  OE  PAUL 


17 


This  solution  of  the  problem  of  Paul  by  elimina¬ 
tion  is,  however,  confronted  by  serious  difficulties. 
To  dismiss  from  consideration  the  most  important 
convert  to  the  new  faith,  and  the  effect  both  of 
the  man  and  his  writings  on  Christian  thought,  is 
more  like  an  evasion  of  history  than  its  interpreta¬ 
tion.  It  may  be  argued  that  Paul  corrupted  the 
Christianity  of  the  Gospels;  but  it  is  much  more 
certain  that  without  Paul  the  Christianity  of  the 
Gospels  would  have  remained  the  religion  of  a 
Jewish  sect.  It  may  be  urged  that  much  of  the 
theology  and  Christology  which  are  derived  from 
Paul’s  letters  has  little  affinity  with  the  un¬ 
studied  narratives  of  the  synoptic  Gospels;  but 
it  is  not  impossible  that  this  contrast  has  been 
exaggerated  by  interpreters  of  Paul,  who  have 
been  caught  in  the  eddies  of  his  argument,  and 
missed  the  course  of  its  main  stream.  Whatever 
Paul  may  have  thought  of  Jesus,  it  can  hardly  be 
assumed  that  he  was  either  unacquainted  with 
the  Gospel  story,  or  incompetent  to  report  it. 

Pauline  period.  .  .  .  The  counsel  of  Paul  has  come  to  naught. 
It  is  a  philosophy  detached  from  the  realities  of  life.  .  .  .  The 
philosophy  of  Jesus  is  still  new,  because  it  has  never  yet  been  lis¬ 
tened  to.”  (pp.  180  ff .)  In  lighter  vein,  but  indicating  the  same 
reaction  from  Pauline  teaching,  a  clever  American  essayist  (Ell- 
wood  Hendrick,  “Percolator  Papers,”  1919,  pp.  173  ff.)  observes 
the  contrast  between  the  “very  simple  gospel”  of  Jesus  and  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  modern  Church  and  concludes,  “The  orthodox 
are  followers  of  Paul;  the  unorthodox  are  not.  ...  It  is  Paul  who 
keeps  us  apart,  and  who  is  the  author  of  that  of  which  many 
earnest  Christians  are  seeking  to  rid  themselves  today.  .  .  .  He 
was  the  very  opposite  of  him  he  called  his  master.  Isn’t  it  time 
to  stop  robbing  Peter  to  pay  Paul?  ” 


1 8  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Whether,  as  a  youthful  student  in  Jerusalem,  he 
ever  met  Jesus  face  to  face,  is  a  question  which 
has  been  often  raised,  but  which  permits  no  posi¬ 
tive  reply.  On  the  one  hand,  the  phrase  “  though 
we  have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh”  1  has  been 
held  “to  be  intelligible  only  if  we  suppose  that 
he  [Paul]  was  not  in  immediate  want  of  further 
information  concerning  the  outward  personality 
of  Jesus;  he  already  knew  with  whom  he  had  to 
do.”  2  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  urged  that,  how¬ 
ever  suggestive  this  phrase  appears  to  be,  it  occurs 
in  the  course  of  an  argument  which  claims  the 
authority  of  a  vision  as  equal  to  that  of  personal 
acquaintance.  The  same  apostle  who,  in  another 
place,  writes  “Have  I  not  seen  Jesus  our  Lord?  ”  3 
as  though  recording  a  physical  presence,  adds,  in 
the  same  letter,  “Finally,  he  was  seen  by  myself,”  4 
with  manifest  reference  to  the  vision  near  Damas¬ 
cus. 

However  this  question  of  direct  acquaintance 
may  be  answered,  it  is  evident  that  at  many  points 
the  life  of  Jesus  and  the  earlier  years  of  the  life 
of  Paul  were  in  such  close  proximity  that  complete 
ignorance  of  the  one  by  the  other  becomes  almost 
incredible.  “Every  year,”  we  read  of  Jesus,  “his 
parents  used  to  travel  to  Jerusalem  at  the  passover 
festival;  and  when  he  was  twelve  years  old  they 

1 II  Cor.  v.  16,  A.  V.  Moffatt:  “Even  though  I  once  estimated 
Christ  by  what  is  external.”  Weymouth:  “Even  if  we  have 
known  Christ  as  a  man.” 

2  J.  Weiss,  “Paul  and  Jesus,”  tr.  1909,  p.  55. 

3 1  Cor.  ix.  1.  4 1  Cor.  xv.  8. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


19 

went  up  as  usual  to  the  festival/’ 1  and,  about 
twenty  years  later,  “as  the  time  for  his  assumption 
was  now  due,  he  set  his  face  for  the  journey  to 
Jerusalem.”  2  It  was  at  some  point  in  this  interval 
that  the  young  student  Paul  arrived  from  Tarsus 
to  be  “educated  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  in  all  the 
strictness  of  our  ancestral  Law,”  3  and  is  reported 
to  have  said  of  himself,  “  How  I  lived  from  my 
youth  up  among  my  own  nation  and  at  Jerusalem, 
all  that  early  career  of  mine,  is  known  to  all  the 
Jews.” 4  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Paul’s 
teacher,  “a  doctor  of  the  Law,  who  was  highly 
respected  by  all  the  people,”  5  could  have  been 
unaware  of  the  popular  agitation  created  by  the 
ministry  of  Jesus,  or  of  the  “large  mob  with  swords 
and  clubs  who  had  come  from  the  high  priests  and 
the  elders  of  the  people,”  6  and  confronted  Jesus 
at  the  garden  of  Gethsemane.  Even  though  the 
incidents  of  the  last  days  of  Jesus  may  have  ap¬ 
peared  beneath  the  notice  of  scholars,  and  they 
might  prudently  avoid  the  contagion  of  excite¬ 
ment,  it  would  seem  unlikely  that  a  pupil  of  Gama¬ 
liel,  bred  in  the  hope  of  a  coming  Messiah,  should 
not  be  informed  of  the  itinerant  preacher  from 
Galilee  whose  coming  to  the  capital  had  created 
such  stir. 

Again,  according  to  the  elaborate  computations 
of  modern  scholars,7  it  was  not  later  than  A.  D.  32, 
at  the  stoning  of  Stephen,  that  “the  witnesses 

1  Luke  ii.  41-42.  2  Luke  ix.  51.  3  Acts  xxii.  3. 

4  Acts  xxvi.  4.  6  Acts  v.  34.  0  Matt.  xxvi.  47. 

7  Deissmann,  “St.  Paul,”  tr.  1913,  Appendix  I. 


20  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

laid  their  clothes  at  the  feet  of  a  youth  called 
Saul.”  1  If,  then,  Paul  could  be  described  as  a 
youth  at  a  time  so  soon  after  the  day  when  Jesus, 
at  thirty  years  of  age,  was  crucified,  it  would  ap¬ 
pear  that  the  dates  of  their  births  must  have  very 
nearly  coincided;  and  the  dramatic  picture  is  pre¬ 
sented  of  these  two  lives,  so  remote  from  each 
other  in  circumstances  and  training,  one  in  the 
secluded  village  of  Nazareth,  the  other  in  the  busy 
metropolis  of  Tarsus,  being  drawn  toward  each 
other,  on  paths  converging  to  Jerusalem,  there 
to  become, — the  one  by  the  tragedy  of  the  cross, 
the  other  by  sad  reflection  on  his  own  experience, — 
the  chief  instruments  in  history  for  the  religious 
education  of  the  Western  world. 

If  one  be  inclined  to  enter  at  all  into  this  region 
of  surmise,  he  may  be  tempted  to  go  even  further. 
Is  it  not  possible  that  in  this  bewildering  contrast 
of  physical  proximity  and  spiritual  remoteness, 
of  quickened  sympathy  and  hostile  conviction, 
may  be  found  the  beginning  of  that  sense  of  a  di¬ 
vided  life  which  wrung  the  heart  of  Paul,  and 
which  with  such  poignancy  he  confessed?  On  the 
one  hand  was  his  intellectual  environment,  the 
conservatism  of  scholarship,  the  academic  tradi¬ 
tion,  all  combining  to  encourage  indifference  to 
the  vicissitudes  of  a  wandering  Nazar ene.  Gama¬ 
liel  and  his  young  pupil  might  inquire  into  the 
pretensions  of  Jesus,  as  they  might  consider  those 
of  his  fellow- Galilean  Judas; 2  but  these  agitations  of 
the  common  people  may  have  affected  them  as 
1  Acts  vii.  58.  2  Acts  v.  37. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


21 


little  as  a  revival  of  religion  may  now  affect  the 
academic  circle  of  a  modern  university  town.  On 
the  other  hand,  this  same  period  of  student  life 
may  have  been  to  Paul,  as  it  has  been  to  many  a 
modern  youth,  a  time  of  torturing  conflict  be¬ 
tween  the  flesh  and  the  spirit.  “I  serve  the  law 
of  God,”  he  says,  “with  my  mind,  but  with  my 
flesh  I  serve  the  law  of  sin.  Miserable  wretch 
that  I  am!  Who  will  rescue  me  from  this  body 
of  death?  ”  1  May  not  this  schism  of  the  spirit 
have  prepared  the  way  for  the  new  revelation? 
Intellectually,  the  path  to  Jesus  was  closed  to 
Paul.  The  whole  story  of  teaching  and  preaching 
which  the  Gospels  narrate  must  have  seemed  to 
the  young  scholar  to  describe  a  popular  commotion 
with  which  he  had  nothing  to  do.  If  he  were  to 
become  a  disciple,  it  must  be  the  disciple  of  a 
different  kind  of  Messiah  from  the  plain  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  His  Christ  must  satisfy  his  academic 
mind.  Yet  he  was  confronted  by  the  moral  har¬ 
mony  and  spiritual  serenity  of  Stephen,  who,  “full 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  gazed  up  at  heaven  and  saw  the 
glory  of  God  and  Jesus  standing  at  God’s  right 
hand.”  2  Indifferent,  therefore,  as  Paul  may  have 
been  concerning  the  events  of  the  life  of  Jesus, 
he  could  not  escape  the  spiritual  consequences 
of  that  obscure  career.  The  strange  combination 
of  historical  neutrality  and  spiritual  loyalty  which 
later  marked  his  letters  may  have  had  its  beginning, 
not  in  a  lack  of  knowledge  about  Jesus,  but  in 
a  knowledge  tainted  with  scorn.  Paul  may  have 
1  Rom.  vii.  25,  24.  2  Acts  vii.  55. 


22  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

known  Jesus  only  to  despise  him,  and  the  memory 
of  that  condescending  indifference  may  have  made 
the  most  tragic  element  in  his  own  self-contempt. 

From  this  period  of  early  and  hostile  proximity, 
Paul  passes  to  become  a  companion  of  the  Twelve. 
Three  years  after  his  conversion,  he  writes,  “I 
went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  make  the  acquaintance 
of  Cephas.  I  stayed  a  fortnight  with  him.”  1 
Must  not  a  conversation,  so  intimate  and  pro¬ 
longed,  have  reviewed  the  ministry  of  Jesus?  Al¬ 
though  Paul  writes,  “I  estimate  no  one  by  what 
is  external;  ”  2  can  it  have  been  in  ignorance  of  the 
external  facts  that  he  reinterprets  the  Gospel? 
Does  he  not,  indeed,  expressly  write,  “I  passed  on 
to  you  what  I  had  myself  received?  ”  3  Allusions 
of  this  nature,  casual  though  they  be,  bring  the 
letters  of  Paul  very  nearly  to  the  position  of  first¬ 
hand  evidence.  It  is  true  that  their  primary 
concern  is  with  a  risen  and  glorified  Christ,  yet 
the  incidental  references  to  the  teaching  and  con¬ 
duct  of  Jesus  are  the  more  impressive  because  un¬ 
designed.  The  most  detailed  account  of  the  Lord’s 
Supper,  for  example,  is  given,  not  by  the  evangel¬ 
ists,  but  by  Paul;  with  the  added  assurance,  “I 
passed  on  to  you  what  I  received  from  the  Lord 
himself.”  4  Again,  it  is  Paul  who  repeats  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  concerning  divorce,  saying, 
“  These  are  my  instructions  (and  they  are  the 
Lord’s,  not  mine);  ”5  and  it  is  Paul  who  gives 
“the  Lord’s  instructions  .  .  .  that  those  who 


1  Gal.  i.  18. 

4 1  Cor.  xi.  23. 


2 II  Cor.  v.  16. 


3 1  Cor.  xv.  3. 

5 1  Cor.  vii.  10. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


23 


proclaim  the  gospel  are  to  get  their  living  by  the 
gospel.”1  “Christ,”  he  says  again,  “did  not 
please  himself.”  2  “It  is  no  weak  Christ  you  have 
to  do  with,  but  a  Christ  of  power.  For  though  he 
was  crucified  in  his  weakness,  he  lives  by  the  power 
of  God.”  3  “I  am  being  killed  in  the  body,  as 
Jesus  was.”  4  Finally  may  be  added  the  precious 
fragment, — transmitted,  it  is  true,  through  the 
medium  of  the  book  of  Acts,  but  singularly  char¬ 
acteristic  of  the  author  of  the  Hymn  to  Love, — 
bidding  his  brethren  “to  work  hard  and  succour 
the  needy,  remembering  the  words  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  who  said,  ‘To  give  is  happier  than  to  get.  ’  ”  5 

Confronted  by  intimations  like  these  of  Paul’s 
conscious  or  subconscious  appreciation  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus,  one  would  seem  to  be  ill-advised, 
not  to  say  audacious,  who  should  depreciate  the 
apostle  for  the  sake  of  his  Master,  or  regard  as 
unimportant  or  misleading  the  earliest  witness 
to  the  Christian  faith.  “Back  to  Jesus”  might 
be  a  judicious  maxim  if  Paulinism  included  nothing 
but  rabbinical  traditions  and  Hellenistic  meta¬ 
physics.  But  “Back  to  Jesus”  across  a  devastated 
area  of  abandoned  testimony  is  a  retreat  as  in¬ 
advisable  as  it  is  precipitate.  The  problem  of 
Paul  is  to  be  solved,  not  by  elimination,  but  by 
discrimination.  The  literary  discernment  of  Mat¬ 
thew  Arnold  was  quick  to  recognize  this  truth, 

1 1  Cor.  ix.  14;  cf.  Matt.  x.  10.  2  Rom.  xv.  3. 

3 II  Cor.  xiii.  3-4.  4 II  Cor.  iv.  10. 

6  Acts  xx.  35.  Further  parallels  and  “ echoes”  are  noted  in 
Chapter  VII. 


24  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

and  he  applied  his  gifts  of  insight  and  irony  to 
save  Paul  from  his  own  interpreters.  “The  reign 
of  the  real  St.  Paul,”  wrote  Matthew  Arnold,  in 
1870,  in  answer  to  Renan,  “is  only  beginning; 
his  fundamental  ideas,  disengaged  from  the  elabo¬ 
rate  misconceptions  with  which  Protestantism  has 
overlaid  them,  will  have  an  influence  in  the  future 
greater  than  any  which  they  have  yet  had.  .  .  . 
Instead  of  lightly  disparaging  the  great  name  of 
St.  Paul,  let  us  see  if  the  needful  thing  is  not  rather 
to  rescue  St.  Paul  and  the  Bible  from  the  perver¬ 
sions  of  them  by  mistaken  men.”  1 

At  this  point,  then,  there  is  presented  to  the  in¬ 
quirer  the  opposite  alternative.  May  it  not  be 
maintained,  in  the  light  of  these  considerations, 
that  Paul,  instead  of  being  the  corrupter  of  Chris¬ 
tianity,  was  its  real  founder?  Was  he  not  the  first 
to  discover  the  real  significance  of  events  which 
those  who  stood  nearer  to  them  did  not  under¬ 
stand?  “The  name  ‘disciple  of  Jesus’  has,”  it 
has  been  said  in  a  much  debated  volume,  “little 
applicability  to  Paul.  .  .  .  Paul  is  essentially  a 
new  phenomenon, — as  new,  considering  the  large 
basis  of  common  ground,  as  he  could  possibly 
be.  .  .  .  Jesus  and  Paul  do  not  belong  to  the  same 
stratum  of  Judaism.  .  .  .  The  whole  religious 
language  of  Paul  is  on  another  level  from  the 
language  of  Jesus.”  2  Here  is  a  new  and  some¬ 
what  startling  possibility.  Paul,  not  Jesus,  it 
seems  to  be  suggested,  becomes  responsible  for  the 

1  “St.  Paul  and  Protestantism,”  1870,  pp.  4,  7. 

2  Wrede.  “  Paul,”  tr.  1907,  pp.  165,  156. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


25 


Christian  religion.  The  Epistles,  not  the  Gospels, 
are  to  be  regarded  as  its  most  precious  documents. 
“The  Gospels,”  an  English  scholar  has  not  hesi¬ 
tated  to  affirm,  “exhibit  an  incomplete  situation, 
a  raw  audience,  and  an  inchoate  context  of  evi¬ 
dence.  .  .  .  The  essence  of  Christianity  is  not 
in  the  bare  fact  but  in  the  fact  and  its  interpreta¬ 
tion.  .  .  .  There  is  more  inspiration  in  the  Epistles 
than  in  the  Gospels.  .  .  .  The  inspirational  ele¬ 
ment  predominates  in  the  Epistles  and  the  exhibi¬ 
tionary  element  in  the  Gospels.”  1  To  the  same  effect 

1  P.  T.  Forsyth,  “The  Person  and  Place  of  Jesus  Christ,”  1909, 
pp.  133,  168,  169.  The  same  conclusion  is  even  more  unequivo¬ 
cally  expressed  in  his  “Theology  in  Church  and  State,”  1915,  p. 
31 :  “The  Epistles  are  more  inspired  than  the  Gospels.  We  are  in 
more  direct  contact  with  Christ.  We  are  at  one  remove  only.  We 
hear  the  man  who  had  Christ’s  own  interpretation  of  His  work. 
.  .  .  The  Gospels,  with  their  unspeakable  value,  are  yet  but  the 
propaedeutic  to  the  Epistles;  and  most  of  the  higher  pains  and 
troubles  of  the  Church  to-day  arise  from  the  displacement  of  its 
centre  of  gravity  to  the  Gospels.” 

To  the  same  effect,  though  with  quite  another,  and  more  du¬ 
bious,  implication  concerning  the  teaching  of  the  Gospels,  is  the 
erudite  discussion  of  Professor  J.  G.  Machen,  as  summarized  in 
the  following  passage:  “The  details  of  Jesus’  earthly  ministry  no 
doubt  had  an  important  place  in  the  thinking  of  Paul.  But  they 
were  important,  not  as  an  end  in  themselves,  but  as  a  means  to  an 
end.  .  .  .  Jesus,  according  to  Paul,  came  to  earth,  not  to  say 
something,  but  to  do  something;  He  was  primarily  not  a  teacher, 
but  a  Redeemer.  He  came,  not  to  teach  men  how  to  live,  but  to 
give  them  a  new  life  through  His  atoning  death.  ...  All  that 
Jesus  said  and  did  was  for  the  purpose  of  the  Cross.  ...  If  Jesus 
was  what  the  liberal  theologians  represent  Him  as  being — a 
teacher  of  righteousness,  a  religious  genius,  a  guide  on  the  way  to 
God — then  not  Jesus  but  Paul  was  the  true  founder  of  historic 
Christianity.”  “The  Origin  of  Paul’s  Religion,”  1921,  pp.  167  ff. 


26  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

is  the  conclusion  reached,  from  quite  another  angle, 
by  Professor  Royce:  “So  far  as  we  know  of  the 
teachings  of  the  man  Jesus,  they  did  not  make  ex¬ 
plicit  what  proved  to  be  precisely  the  most  character¬ 
istic  feature  of  Christianity.”  “This  community, — 
not  Paul  himself  as  an  individual,  ...  is  the  real 
human  founder  of  Christianity.” 1  “The  being 
whom  he  [Paul]  called  Christ  Jesus  was  in  essence 
the  spirit  of  the  universal  community.”  2 

The  first  impression  made  by  these  propositions 
on  the  unsophisticated  reader  is  one  of  sheer 
bewilderment.  The  New  Testament  seems  to  be 
turned  upside  down.  Jesus,  it  would  appear,  was 
not  understood  until  he  was  gone.  Indeed,  he  did 
not  understand  himself.  His  resurrection  was 
the  first  intimation  of  his  real  nature.  What  he  said 
of  himself  to  his  chosen  disciples  was  but  a  pre¬ 
monition  of  that  which  the  Apostle  Paul  dis¬ 
covered  him  to  be.  When  Paul  says,  “The  founda¬ 
tion  is  laid,  namely,  Jesus  Christ,  and  no  one  can 
lay  any  other,”  3  he  is  speaking,  not  of  the  teacher 
of  Nazareth  or  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and 
the  parables,  but  of  the  eternal  Christ,  whom  he 
himself  was  the  first  to  proclaim.  The  Christian 
religion,  in  other  words,  is  not  to  be  derived  from 
Jesus  Christ,  but  from  reflections  on  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  Jesus  of  history  becomes  subordinated  to 
the  Christ  of  dogma.  “Christianity,  as  we  know 
it  to-day,”  it  has  been  unreservedly  announced  in  a 

1  J.  Royce,  “The  Problem  of  Christianity,”  1913,  Vol.  I.  p.  416. 

2  J.  Royce,  “The  Hope  of  the  Great  Community,”  1916,  p.  48. 

3 1  Cor.  iii.  n. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


27 


conservative  Review,  “is  largely  St.  Paul’s  Chris¬ 
tianity,  and  to  the  modern  mind  we  have  to  say  that 
while  the  Jesus  of  history  is  justly  and  for  ever  an 
object  of  admiration,  idealization,  and  imitation, 
it  is  the  Christ  of  St.  Paul,  .  .  .  the  sacrificial 
Redeemer  and  exalted  Lord,  who  is  to  be  with  us 
always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world.”  1 
This  apparently  revolutionary  conclusion  may 
commend  itself  to  some  minds  because  it  tends 
to  confirm  the  accepted  teaching  of  the  later 
Church.  The  summons  “Back  to  Jesus,”  which, 
a  generation  ago,  recalled  attention  from  the  Epis¬ 
tles  to  the  Gospels,  was  acceptable  to  those  who 
were  primarily  concerned,  not  with  doctrine  but 
with  life ;  the  opposite  tendency,  to  regard  as  funda¬ 
mental  the  teaching  of  Paul,  falls  in  with  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  the  Christian  life  must  rest  on  dog¬ 
matic  foundations.  For  the  obvious  fact  is  that 
the  creeds  of  Christendom  are  not  easily  derived 
from  the  synoptic  Gospels,  in  whose  artless  narra¬ 
tives  the  religion  of  Jesus  is  reported  to  be  one 
of  personal  consecration  and  discipleship.  If  no 
man  can  lay  other  foundation  than  is  described 
in  those  ingenuous  records,  then  the  elaborate 
structure  of  dogma  which  has  been  built  by  the 
theologians  of  the  Church  may  be  reasonably  re¬ 
garded  as  in  serious  peril.  When,  for  example, 
Professor  Forsyth  asks:  “If  we  keep  critically  to 
the  Synoptics  can  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  be  retained?  ”  the  answer  must  be  either 
dubious  or  in  the  negative.  A  similar  difficulty  was 
1  London  Quarterly  Review ,  October,  1920,  p.  190. 


28  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

recognized  by  Professor  Royce  in  enforcing  his 
philosophy  of  loyalty  as  of  the  essence  of  Christian 
faith.  The  consciousness  of  the  Community  is  not, 
he  confesses,  conspicuous  in  the  Gospels.  “We 
cannot  say  that  Jesus  explicitly  intended  to  found 
the  Christian  Church.”  On  the  other  hand,  the 
“  force  of  collective  religious  fervor  is  plainly 
recognized  by  Paul.”  Thus  the  Community, 
which  according  to  this  view  of  Paul’s  teaching 
is  the  Body  of  Christ,  becomes  the  centre  of  all 
later  forms  of  Christian  life  and  faith. 

This  solution  of  the  problem  of  Paul  is,  however, 
even  less  likely  to  be  welcomed  by  the  uninstructed 
reader  than  Renan’s  conclusion  that  the  end  of 
Paul’s  reign  had  arrived.  Instead  of  being  a  be¬ 
lated  disciple  of  Jesus,  Paul,  in  this  view,  becomes 
the  first  interpreter  of  Jesus.  Instead  of  being 
the  missionary  of  Christ  he  becomes  the  discoverer 
of  Christ.  Such  a  view  may  seem  to  save  orthodoxy, 
but  it  does  so  at  great  cost.  It  may  fortify  Chris- 
tology  but  it  surrenders  Jesus.  It  denies  to  the 
consciousness  of  Jesus  himself  the  knowledge  of 
the  faith  which  he  inspired.  This  procedure  seems 
to  propose  a  gathering  of  the  fruits  of  the  Christian 
religion  while  cutting  away  its  roots.  It  under¬ 
mines  the  foundation  of  faith  while  building  its 
superstructure.  Who  could  be  more  astonished 
than  the  Apostle  Paul,  not  to  say  more  aflame  with 
indignation,  if  it  were  reported  of  him  who  had 
determined  “to  be  ignorant  of  everything  except 
Jesus  Christ,”  1  that  he  knew  better  than  his 

1 1  Cor.  ii.  2. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


29 


Master  what  that  Master  meant  to  teach,  and  that 
“the  essence  of  Christianity  was  to  be  found,  not 
in  the  facts,  but  in  their  interpretation”? 

Nor  is  this  the  only  difficulty  with  which  one  is 
confronted  when  he  proposes  to  derive  the  essen¬ 
tial  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  from  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  Paul.  For  behind  the  transition  in  which, 
as  has  been  lately  said,  “the  preaching  of  repent¬ 
ance  and  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  begun  by  Jesus, 
passed  into  the  sacramental  cult  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,”  1  there  is  conspicuous  in  the  writings  of 
Paul  himself  a  formative  influence  which  is  not 
only  independent  of  the  Gospel  story  but  which 
is  not  even  Christian  in  its  origin.  Throughout 
the  Roman  world  in  Paul’s  time  had  spread  the 
doctrines  and  practices  known  as  “Mysteries.” 
These  varied  faiths  and  forms,  with  their  intricate 
rituals  and  secret  initiations,  converged  in  an  in¬ 
vasion  of  Roman  life,  imparting  to  its  satiated 
mind  a  new  sensation  of  mystical  exaltation  and 
communion.  The  symbolism  of  these  mystery- 
religions  was  in  certain  aspects  uniform.  All  were 
dramas  of  redemption,  plans  of  salvation,  ways 
of  purgation.  In  all,  the  supreme  being  descended 
into  human  life,  which  in  its  turn  became  divine. 
Degrees  of  initiation,  baptism  by  water,  a  mystical 
meal  for  the  privileged, — all  these  were  familiar 
incidents  of  Oriental  cults.  “The  death  and  resur¬ 
rection  of  the  saviour-god, — Attis,  Serapis,  Adonis, 
etc., — were  dramatically  exhibited  before  the  eyes 

1  F.  J.  Foakes  Jackson  and  Kirsopp  Lake,  “The  Beginnings  of 
Christianity,”  Vol.  I,  1920,  p.  vii. 


30  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

of  the  assembled  worshippers,  with  every  circum¬ 
stance  that  could  touch  the  imagination  and  ex¬ 
cite  the  feelings.  .  .  .  The  neophyte  died  with 
the  god  to  his  material  and  mortal  existence,  and 
rose  with  him  to  a  new  life  divine  and  immortal.”  1 
“Whatever  name  they  bear,  their  ultimate  aim 
was  identical — to  raise  the  soul  above  the  tran¬ 
siency  of  perishable  matter  to  an  immortal  life 
through  actual  union  with  the  Divine.”  2 

It  is  difficult,  under  the  changed  conditions  of 
the  world,  to  appreciate  the  rapid  expansion  and 
profound  appeal  of  these  mystery-religions.  Rome, 
satiated  with  triumphs  but  destitute  of  spiritual 
power,  welcomed  these  imported  faiths,  as  the 
modern  world  in  its  reaction  from  the  strain  of 
war  has  become  susceptible  to  new  and  strange 
religious  cults.  National  religion  had  become 
bankrupt,  and  eager  minds  responded  to  these 
assurances  of  a  saviour-god  who  promised  to  the 
initiated  both  illumination  and  salvation.  The 
word  “Enthusiasm”  registers  the  exhilaration 
excited  by  this  sense  of  a  mystical  union  with  the 
Divine.  The  acceptance  of  Mithraism  became 
so  widespread  as  to  lead  Renan  to  surmise:  “One 
might  say  that  if  the  expansion  of  Christianity 
had  been  arrested  by  some  mortal  disease,  the 
world  would  have  been  Mithraist.  .  .  .  Mithraism 
had  its  baptism,  its  eucharist,  its  love  feasts, 
its  penitence,  its  expiations,  its  anointings.  Its 

1 W.  Morgan,  “The  Religion  and  Theology  of  Paul,”  1917,  pp. 
127,  130. 

2  Kennedy,  “St.  Paul  and  the  Mystery-Religions,”  1913,  p.  79. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


31 


chapels  resembled  small  churches.  It  created  a 
bond  of  fraternity  among  the  initiated.”  1 

Into  this  bewildering  multiplicity  of  tradition 
and  ceremonial  Paul  was  born.  “The  mysteries, 
and  the  religious  societies  which  were  akin  to  the 
mysteries,  existed  on  an  enormous  scale  through¬ 
out  the  eastern  part  of  the  Empire;  ”  2  and  the 
elaborate  rites  and  mythologies  of  these  redemptive 
dramas  must  have  been  familiar  in  Paul’s  city  of 
Tarsus.  Even  his  training  in  the  rigid  monotheism 
of  Jerusalem  could  not  detach  his  mind  from  these 
dramatic  pictures  of  redemption;  and  when  he 
returned  from  the  prolonged  reflections  on  the 
new  faith  to  which  his  vision  called  him,  his  vocabu¬ 
lary  bore  the  marks  of  sympathetic  familiarity 
with  the  mysteries,  and,  with  a  constantly  increas¬ 
ing  emphasis,  his  teaching  becomes  that  of  a 
redemptive  plan.  He  discriminates  like  an  adept 
between  types  of  character  which  are  carnal, 
natural,  and  spiritual;3  he  writes,  as  one  might 
report  of  the  ritual  of  Osiris  or  Mithra,  that  “If 
we  have  been  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of 
his  death,  we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  his 
resurrection.”  4  The  dominant  word  of  his  message 
becomes  that  of  the  mysteries,  salvation.  He 
prays  for  a  door  of  utterance,  to  speak  the  “mystery 
of  Christ.”  5  He  is  a  “steward  of  the  mysteries 

1  Marc  Aurele,  1886,  pp.  577,  579. 

2  E.  Hatch,  “The  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  upon  the 
Christian  Church,”  1890,  p.  291. 

3  I  Cor.  ii.  14  ff. 

6  Col.  iv.  3,  A.  V. 


4  Rom.  vi.  5,  A.  V. 


32  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

of  God.”  1  Is  there  not  indicated,  it  is  now  boldly 
asked,  in  this  appropriation  of  phrases  and  rites, 
a  second  conversion  of  the  apostle,  from  a  Hebrew 
to  a  Hellenic  faith?  Is  not  a  teaching  which  pur¬ 
ports  to  be  that  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  in  reality  a 
masterly  interpretation  of  the  mystery-religions 
in  terms  of  the  person  of  Christ?  Surveying  the 
thought  of  his  time,  in  its  eager  search  for  evidence 
of  Divine  communion,  does  not  Paul  ask  himself: 
“Is  not  this  cosmic  process  of  salvation  which 
the  mysteries  concur  in  announcing, — this  descent 
of  the  saviour-god,  this  gathering  to  himself  the 
initiated, — actually  fulfilled  in  the  mission  of  Jesus 
Christ?  Has  not  this  dream  of  the  ages  been 
historically  realized?  Attis,  Osiris,  and  Mithra 
were  but  legendary  figures;  but  my  Christ  was 
a  real  person,  within  the  horizon  of  memory,  whose 
resurrection  achieved  that  of  which  the  mystery- 
religions  had  dreamed.”  The  Christianity  of  Paul, 
as  one  of  its  most  brilliant  expositors  has  said, 
would  thus  “not  assume  to  be  a  mystery-religion 
like  others,  only  superior  to  them;  it  assumed  to 
realize  that  which  the  pagan  cults  and  mysteries 
did  not  in  any  way  realize.”  “It  was  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  mysteries,  not  to  the  Gospel  of  Jesus,  that  the 
ancient  world  was  converted,  or  could  be  converted. 
The  ancient  world  would  never  have  consented 
to  become  Jewish.  Instead  of  changing  the  Gospel, 
as  is  often  said,  the  mystery  saved  the  Gospel,  by 
making  it  a  relatively  universal  religion  ...  a 


1 1  Cor.  iv.  i,  A.  V. 


THE  PROBLEM  OE  PAUL  33 

religion  independent  of  Judaism,  a  scheme  of  uni¬ 
versal  salvation.”  1 

Such,  according  to  many  modern  scholars,  was 
the  transformation  of  the  simplicity  of  a  Galilean 
Gospel  into  the  subtleties  and  sacraments  which 
surround  a  saviour-god.  “The  whole  conception  of 
Christian  worship  was  changed.  But  it  was 
changed  by  the  influence  upon  Christian  worship  of 
the  contemporary  worship  of  the  mysteries  and  the 
concurrent  cults.”  2  Does  not  this  conclusion,  if 
it  be  accepted,  fortify  the  view  that  the  Apostle 
Paul  was  the  founder  of  Christianity?  If,  as 
Loisy  summarizes  the  results  of  his  inquiry,  the 
mysteries  “enlarged  the  idea  of  God,”  the  “idea 
of  Christ,”  and  “the  idea  of  salvation”;  if  the 
simple  story  of  the  Gospels  was  expanded  by  Paul 
into  a  fulfillment  of  those  religious  dreams  which 
had  hovered  before  the  Roman  world;  then  it 
must  not  only  be  admitted  that  the  transition 
represents  one  of  the  most  strategic  and  revolu¬ 
tionary  adventures  in  the  history  of  thought,  but 
also  that  the  great  figure  in  the  new  movement  is 
not  Jesus,  but  Paul. 

Yet  the  more  one  is  led  to  emphasize  these  aspects 
of  the  teaching  of  Paul,  the  more  difficult  is  the 
dilemma  in  which  Paulinist  Christianity  thus  be¬ 
comes  involved.  For  the  cosmic  drama  thus  con¬ 
ceived,  with  its  descending  God  and  redemptive 
sacrifice, — this  which  has  become  the  corner-stone 

1  A.  Loisy,  “Les  Mysteres  PaTens  et  Ie  Mystere  Chretien,” 
1914,  P-  357,  340. 

2  Hatch,  op.  cit .,  p.  309. 


34  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  and  the  modern  world 

of  many  schemes  of  salvation  -which  Christian 
theologians  have  built, — if  it  be  derived  from  these 
alien  cults,  must  be  regarded  as  essentially  a  non- 
Christian,  or  at  least  as  a  composite,  creation, 
appropriating  so  much  from  extra- Christian  sources 
that,  as  has  been  lately  affirmed  by  an  Anglican 
scholar,  “There  were  gradually  imported  [into  the 
conduct  of  baptism,  the  eucharist,  etc.]  many  ideas 
which  were  almost  absent  from  these  institutions 
in  their  primitive  Jewish-Christian  form.”  1  In 
other  words,  many  elements  of  Pauline  teaching 
which  have  been  often  regarded  as  fundamental 
would  become,  if  traced  to  this  origin,  brilliant 
adaptations  from  Oriental  mythology,  and  the 
theologian  who  accepts  them  as  of  the  essence  of 
Christianity  would  in  reality  be  abandoning  the 
discipleship  of  Jesus  for  a  revival  of  pagan  mysti¬ 
cism. 

It  is  a  curious  Nemesis  which  might  thus  issue 
from  the  subordination  of  the  simple  narratives  of 
the  Gospels  to  the  daring  speculations  of  the  great 
apostle.  What  was  welcomed  as  a  reenforcement 
of  orthodox  belief  might  turn  out  to  be  not  even 
Christian  in  origin,  and  the  religion  of  Jesus  might 
be  displaced  by  the  pagan  tradition  of  a  saviour-god. 
A  surprising  end  might  thus  be  reached  through 
acceptance  of  the  Pauline  mystery  as  the  bulwark 
of  conservative  theology;  and  the  drastic  comment 
of  Martineau  might  be  even  more  justified  to-day 
than  when  that  great  and  devout  scholar  made  it 

1  H.  Rashdall,  “The  Idea  of  Atonement  in  Christian  Theology,” 
1919,  p.  484. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


35 


thirty  years  ago:  “ Christianity,  as  defined  or 
understood  in  all  the  Churches  which  formulate  it, 
has  been  mainly  evolved  from  what  is  transient  and 
perishable  in  its  sources:  from  what  is  unhistorical 
in  its  traditions,  mythological  in  its  preconcep¬ 
tions,  and  misapprehended  in  the  oracles  of  its 
prophets.”  1 

At  this  point,  then,  the  problem  presented  by  the 
teaching  of  Paul  becomes  more  completely  defined. 
On  the  one  hand  there  confronts  the  inquirer  a 
transition  from  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospels  to  the 
complexity  of  another  world  of  thought  and  ex¬ 
perience;  but  on  the  other  hand  there  is  a  not  less 
tenacious  grasp  of  the  spirit  of  the  Gospels,  which 
lifts  the  finest  utterances  of  Paul  to  the  level  of 
those  of  Jesus  himself.  On  the  one  hand  is  a  bold 
re-statement  of  Christian  origins  in  the  language  of 
Oriental  mysteries;  while  on  the  other  hand,  shining 
through  these  non-Christian  forms  of  speech,  is  a 
personality  after  the  mind  of  Christ,  untiring  in 
devotion,  passionate  for  righteousness,  and  offering 
on  his  own  part  what  he  asks  of  others,  “a  living 
sacrifice,  consecrated  and  acceptable  to  God.” 2 
Thus,  as  Harnack  has  said,  “  Those  who  blame  him 
[Paul]  for  corrupting  the  Christian  religion  have 
never  felt  a  single  breath  of  his  spirit,  and  judge 
him  only  by  mere  externals;  .  .  .  those  who  extol 
or  criticise  him  as  a  founder  of  religion  are  forced 
to  make  him  bear  witness  against  himself  on  the 

*J.  Martineau,  “The  Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,”  1890, 
p.  650. 

2  Rom.  xii.  1. 


36  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

main  point,  and  acknowledge  that  the  conscious¬ 
ness  which  bore  him  up  and  steeled  him  for  his 
work  was  illusory  and  self-deceptive.”  1 
What  is  the  problem  thus  presented?  It  is 
obviously  that  of  discriminating  between  the  tem¬ 
porary  and  the  permanent;  of  discovering  among 
the  teachings  which  time  has  displaced  the  elements 
which  time  cannot  destroy;  of  applying  instruc¬ 
tions  designed  to  meet  the  needs  of  one  age  to  the 
unprecedented  and  vastly  more  complex  needs  of 
another  age.  It  is  the  constantly  recurring  problem 
which  all  thinking  about  religion  has  to  meet,  and 
which  never  was  more  pressing  and  critical  than  at 
the  present  time.  Much  which  seems  to  one  genera¬ 
tion  precious  or  essential  may  become  to  the  next 
generation  untenable  or  unconvincing.  Nothing, 
for  example,  has  been  more  impressive,  since  the 
modern  world  was  devastated  by  war,  than  the 
discovery  that  social  reconstruction  involves  theo¬ 
logical  reconstruction,  the  surrender  of  many, 
positions  which  had  been  hotly  defended  and  the 
concentration  of  force  at  those  strategic  points 
which  neither  science  nor  criticism  can  successfully 
attack.  The  question  now  before  those  who  care 
for  religion  is  not  how  much  can  be  claimed  for  it, 
but  how  much  of  it  can  be  saved.  How  shall  the 
increasing  indifference  to  the  creeds  and  forms  of 
the  Christian  Church  be  checked  by  an  adaptation 
of  truth  to  the  needs  of  a  new  world?  How  shall 
the  superimposed  structures  of  doctrine  and  ritual 
be  distinguished  from  the  foundations  of  the  Chris- 
1  “What  is  Christianity?”  tr.  1901,  p.  176. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


37 


tian  life,  and  the  structure  of  faith  be  rebuilt,  not 
on  sand,  but  on  rock? 

This  was  the  problem  which  confronted  Paul 
as  he  contemplated  the  adjustment  of  a  Pales¬ 
tinian  faith  to  the  thoughts  and  desires  of  a 
Roman  world;  and  his  interpretation  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  of  Jesus,  with  its  appropriation  of  the  lan¬ 
guage  and  practices  of  his  time,  was  an  epoch- 
making  achievement  of  spiritual  genius.  Paul’s 
conception  of  the  universe,  with  its  contending 
forces  and  impending  dissolution;  his  physiology  of 
men,  cattle,  birds,  and  fishes;  his  anticipation  of  a 
sublime  moment  when  at  the  last  trump  the  dead 
shall  be  raised  incorruptible;  his  mystic  union 
with  a  glorified  Christ, — all  this,  which  was  the 
product  of  reflections  on  the  philosophy  and  cos¬ 
mology  current  in  his  own  time,  has  shared  the 
fate  of  many  other  ancient  systems  of  thought,  and 
must  be  regarded  as  ephemeral,  local,  or  even 
imaginative;  but  behind  these  bold  and  sweeping 
generalizations,  which  the  spirit  of  his  own  age 
permitted  and  reenforced,  stands  the  figure  of  a 
man  of  the  world  who  was  at  the  same  time  a 
mystic;  aggressive  yet  humble;  self-confident  yet 
self-effacing;  imperious  yet  affectionate;  not  worthy 
to  be  called  an  apostle  yet  not  a  whit  behind 
the  Very  chief est  apostle;  a  “ prismatic”1  nature, 
which  might  confess  itself  variable  and  shifting, 
but  which  could  never  be  equivocal  or  timid  or 
ungenerous  or  dull.  “Much  might  be  said,”  it  has 
been  remarked  by  one  of  the  most  convincing  of 
1  J.  H.  Ropes,  “The  Apostolic  Age,”  1906,  p.  101. 


38  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

modern  scholars,  “in  criticism  of  Paul’s  Christol- 
ogy — if  it  were  not  for  Paul.  .  .  .  The  man  is  so 
large  and  so  strong,  so  simple  and  true,  so  various 
in  his  knowledge  of  the  world,  so  tender  in  his 
feeling  for  men — ‘all  things  to  all  men’ — such  a 
master  of  language,  so  sympathetic  and  so  open — 
he  is  irresistible.  The  quick  movement  of  his 
thought,  his  sudden  flashes  of  anger  and  of  tender¬ 
ness,  his  apostrophes,  his  ejaculations — one  feels 
that  pen  and  paper  never  got  such  a  man  written 
down  before  or  since.  Every  sentence  comes 
charged  with  the  whole  man — half  a  dozen  Greek 
words,  and  not  always  the  best  Greek — and  the 
Christian  world  for  ever  will  sum  up  its  deepest 
experience  in  1  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory  save 
in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom 
the  world  is  crucified  unto  me  and  I  unto  the 
world.  ’  ”  1 

How  to  disentangle,  in  the  teaching  of  this 
extraordinary  man,  the  timeless  elements  from  the 
temporary;  how  to  discriminate  between  his  main 
intention  and  the  by-products  of  his  thought;  how 
to  discover  within  the  circumstances  of  an  ancient 
world  the  qualities  which  are  fit  for  any  world; 
how  to  detach  the  personality  of  Paul  from  the 
limitations  of  his  environment  and  to  interpret 
Paul  in  terms  of  the  modern  world,  as  Paul  inter¬ 
preted  the  Gospel  in  terms  of  Paulinism, — this  is 
the  problem,  which  is  not  to  be  met  either  by  a 
reversion  from  Paul  to  the  Gospels,  or  by  the  sub- 

1  T.  R.  Glover,  “The  Conflict  of  Religions  in  the  Early  Roman 
Empire,”  1909,  p.  155. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  PAUL 


39 


ordination  of  the  Gospels  to  Paul;  and  however 
imperfectly  it  may  be  solved,  there  is  certainly  no 
problem  of  biography  or  of  literary  history  which 
presents  a  more  commanding  challenge  to  the 
modem  mind. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  MAN 

The  problem  of  appreciation  and  discrimination 
thus  proposed  must  be  approached  by  reviewing 
briefly  the  familiar  story  of  Paul’s  life  and  the 
general  character  of  the  letters  which  contain  his 
teaching.  What  kind  of  man,  one  must  ask  him¬ 
self,  was  this,  who  so  candidly  reveals  himself 
in  his  writings,  and  what  made  him  write  as  he 
did  to  various  churches  and  friends? 

The  external  adventures  of  Paul’s  dramatic 
career  have  been  examined  with  enormous  expendi¬ 
ture  of  erudition,  and  it  would  be  both  presumptu¬ 
ous  and  impracticable  to  attempt  any  addition 
to  this  mass  of  information.  It  is  not  essential, 
however,  for  the  present  purpose,  to  examine  these 
difficult  questions  of  topographical  or  chrono¬ 
logical  detail.  On  the  contrary,  the  first  pre¬ 
caution  which  the  ordinary  inquirer  must  observe 
is  to  see  to  it  that  the  much  debated  investigations 
of  geography  and  chronology,  of  obscure  sayings 
and  disconnected  paragraphs,  shall  not  distract  at¬ 
tention  from  Paul’s  controlling  aim.  An  estimate 
of  Paul  may  err  by  excess,  hardly  less  than  by 
defect,  of  learning.  His  life  is  so  fully  reported 
that  it  needs  but  brief  review,  and  his  letters  are 
so  undisguised  that  their  primary  purpose  is  not 
difficult  to  detect.  The  man  may  be  sufficiently 

40 


THE  MAN 


41 


known  through  his  own  record  of  experience,  and 
the  letters  may  be,  at  least  in  some  degree,  inter¬ 
preted  through  acquaintance  with  the  man. 

Concerning  Paul  himself,  it  is  reassuring  to 
remember  that  there  is  at  one’s  command  a  more 
adequate  and  trustworthy  amount  of  biographical 
material  than  exists  in  the  case  of  almost  any  other 
character  in  ancient  history.  The  Book  of  Acts,  it 
is  true,  may  be  regarded  as  of  somewhat  limited 
authority,  because  of  its  obvious  design  to  con¬ 
ciliate  the  earlier  differences  between  Paul  and 
Peter,  and  to  subordinate  the  late  recruit  to  the 
original  leader.  It  is  Peter,  according  to  this 
record,  who,  through  the  vision  of  an  open  heaven, 
is  convinced  that  the  new  faith  is  for  Gentiles  as 
well  as  Jews;  Paul,  on  the  other  hand,  submits 
himself  to  the  elders  at  Jerusalem,  and  only  after  a 
term  of  probation  is  trusted  as  a  missionary.  Yet, 
though  this  narrative  must  be  estimated  with  re¬ 
serve  when  it  conflicts  with  the  testimony  of  Paul 
himself,  it  bears  the  marks  of  acquaintance  with 
the  facts,  and  in  the  later  chapters  has  an  unmis¬ 
takable  note  of  intimacy.  “On  the  whole,”  con¬ 
cludes  one  of  the  least  restrained  of  modern  critics, 
“and  considering  the  character  of  the  book,  Acts  is 
a  first-rate  historical  document,  and  singularly 
easy  to  understand,  so  far  as  the  mere  enumeration 
of  events  is  concerned.”  1  “The  Book  of  Acts,” 
Harnack  has  affirmed,  “is  not  only,  as  a  whole,  a 
genuinely  historical  work,  but  also  in  the  great  part 
of  its  detail  trustworthy.  .  .  .  His  [the  author’s] 
1  Lake.  “The  Earlier  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,”  1911,  p.  13. 


42  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

real  weaknesses  as  an  historian  seem  to  me  to  lie 
...  in  the  first  place,  in  his  credulity  in  reference 
to  cases  of  miraculous  healing  and  of  c spiritual’ 
gifts;  secondly,  in  a  tendency  to  carelessness  and 
inaccuracy,  often  of  a  very  far-reaching  influence 
in  his  narrative,  which  may  be  partly  due  to  his 
endeavor  after  brevity;  lastly,  in  a  tendency  to 
work  up  important  situations.”  .  .  .  [Yet]  “from 
the  standpoint  of  historical  criticism  it  [Acts]  is  a 
substantial  and,  in  many  aspects,  extraordinary 
work.”  1 

When  one  turns  from  the  Book  of  Acts  to  Paul’s 
own  letters  he  passes  from  narrative  to  autobi¬ 
ography.  With  almost  unparalleled  candor  these 
letters  report  the  aspirations,  convictions,  griev¬ 
ances,  and  hopes  of  a  great  man.  He  exposes,  prob¬ 
ably  with  exaggeration,  his  own  sins;  he  bewails 
his  deficiencies  but  proudly  claims  his  rights.  He 
humbles  himself ,  justifies  himself,  and  asserts  him¬ 
self,  with  equal  emphasis.  “Let  us  confess  that 
Paul,  as  he  lives  before  us  in  his  Epistles,  is  a  man 
who  holds  many  men  within  him, — so  many  in¬ 
deed  that  we  may  describe  him  as  the  most  un¬ 
intelligible  of  men  to  the  analytical  reason  of  a 
critic  who  has  never  warmed  to  the  passion  or 
been  moved  by  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity;  but 
the  most  intelligible  of  men  to  the  man  who  has 
heard  within  himself  the  sound  of  all  the  voices 
that  speak  in  man.”  2  The  contact  of  this  complex 

1  “The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,”  tr.  1909,  p.  xxxix. 

2  A.  M.  Fairbairn,  “The  Philosophy  of  the  Christian  Religion,” 
1902,  p.  440. 


THE  MAN 


43 


personality  with  the  modern  reader  is,  in  an  ex¬ 
traordinary  degree,  intimate  and  persuasive.  The 
sense  of  reality  remains  undiminished  by  the  pass¬ 
ing  of  centuries  or  the  change  of  circumstances. 
Paul,  alike  in  his  confessions,  his  self-conquests, 
and  his  impatience,  seems  very  like  a  modern  man. 

Much  learning  has  been  expended  in  determining 
the  authenticity  and  chronological  order  of  these 
letters.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  those  ad¬ 
dressed  to  Timothy  and  Titus  contain  teachings 
which  must  have  been  elaborated  at  a  later  date 
than  that  of  Paul;  and  the  letter  to  the  Ephesians 
appears  to  represent  either  a  later  writer  or  a 
later  phase  of  Paul’s  thought.  Yet,  in  the  nine 
letters  which  have  survived  all  reasonable  criticism 
there  remains  an  ample  body  of  evidence.  They 
are  the  earliest  in  date  of  the  New  Testament 
documents,  the  death  of  Paul  having  preceded 
the  final  version  of  the  earliest  of  the  Gospels. 

Who,  then,  was  this  man,  and  what  were  the 
experiences  which  marked  his  career  and  enriched 
his  mind  and  will?  Paul  was  a  Jew,  of  pure  de¬ 
scent,1  “of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,”  2  “the  Hebrew 
son  of  Hebrew  parents.”  3  His  name  was  Saul 
(desired),  though,  as  was  not  infrequent  with 
Jews  living  in  Greek  towns,  he  was  known  by  a 
Greek  name,  Paul,  also.4  He  appears  to  have  been 

1II  Cor.  xi.  22.  2  Rom.  xi.  i.  3  Phil.  iii.  5. 

40.  Pfleiderer,  “Primitive  Christianity,”  tr.  I  (1906),  p.  40, 
note:  “The  combination  of  a  Greek  with  a  Hebrew  name  was 
frequent  among  Hellenistic  Jews,  and  it  is  probable  that  in  the 
case  of  Paul-Saul  it  does  not  date  only  from  the  incident  re- 


44  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

throughout  his  life  subject  to  some  bodily  ailment, 
which  he  describes  as  “a  thorn  in  the  flesh,”  1  and 
concerning  which  Dean  Stanley  remarks  that 
“the  obscurity  for  us  is  occasioned  by  the  very  fact 
that  it  was  plain  to  contemporaries.” 2  This 
chronic  malady  has  been  variously  surmised  by 
ingenious  commentators  to  have  been  epilepsy,3 
nearsightedness,4  hysteria,5  or  headache.6  What¬ 
ever  this  affliction  may  have  been,  it  was,  Paul 
said,  “an  angel  of  Satan  to  rack  me.”  7  It  seems 
to  have  excited  some  repugnance  in  beholders,8 
and  led  certain  critics  to  say  of  him,  “His  person¬ 
ality  is  weak  and  his  delivery  is  beneath  contempt.”9 
Renan,  with  characteristic  candor,  excludes  the 
conjecture  which  he  appears  to  think  would  first 
suggest  itself.10  In  any  event,  the  “thorn,”  in- 

corded  in  Acts  xiii.  7  ff.,  but  from  bis  home  in  Tarsus,  the  twofold 
designation  corresponding  to  the  dual  character  of  his  interests 
and  education.” 

1 II  Cor.  xii.  7. 

2  “Epistles  to  the  Corinthians,”  1865,  p.  547. 

3  Wrede,  op.  cit.,  p.  23:  “Paul,  like  other  great  historical  fig¬ 
ures — for  instance  Csesar  and  Napoleon — suffered  from  epileptic 
fits.” 

4  Gal.  vi.  11.  “See  what  big  letters  I  make,  when  I  write  you  in 
my  own  hand.”  Cf.  Gal.  iv.  15;  Acts  xxiii.  5. 

5  Weinel,  “St.  Paul,  the  Man  and  his  Work,”  tr.  1906,  p.  91: 
“The  severe  nervous  affliction  from  which  St.  Paul  suffered  was 
probably  not  epilepsy,  but  hysteria.” 

6  See  the  enumerations  in  Stanley,  op.  cit.,  p.  549. 

7 II  Cor.  xii.  7. 

8  Gal.  iv.  14. 

9  II  Cor.  x.  10. 

10  “It  was,  apparently,  some  physical  infirmity;  for  the  attrac- 


THE  MAN 


45 


stead  of  subduing  Paul’s  temperament,  pricked  it 
to  reaction;  and  his  touching  confession  that  in 
weakness  God’s  power  is  fully  felt,1  has  brought 
reassurance  to  multitudes  of  lives  which  have  had 
to  contend  against  physical  disability,  and  to  con¬ 
vert  an  experience  of  pain  into  an  accession  of 
power. 

In  early  youth,  he  was  sent  to  Jerusalem,  where 
as  the  son  of  a  Pharisee 2  he  entered  the  school  of 
the  illustrious  Gamaliel.  Here  he  was  instructed 
in  the  ‘‘subtle  dialectics  and  ingenious  hermeneu¬ 
tics,”  derived  from  the  great  Hillel,  “the  Aristotle 
of  rabbinical  theology.”  3  “I  am  a  Jew,”  Paul 
says,  “born  at  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  but  brought  up 
in  this  city,  educated  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  in 
all  the  strictness  of  our  ancestral  Law.”  4  Thus, 
an  inherited  and  inbred  Judaism  remained  the 
foundation  of  Paul’s  thought.  He  claims  the 
promise  made  to  the  patriarchs.  “The  real  sons 
of  Abraham  are  those  who  rely  on  faith.”  5  “You 
are  the  children  of  the  Promise,  brothers,  like 
Isaac.” 6  The  Hebrew  cosmology,  partitioning 
the  universe  into  three  planes, — the  heavens 
above,  the  terrestrial  world  below,  and  the  abode 

tion  of  carnal  pleasures  seems  unlikely,  since  he  himself  assures  us 
he  has  insensibility.”  “Les  Apotres,”  1866,  pp.  170  ff.,  citing 
I  Cor.  vii.  7,  8,  and  context. 

1 II  Cor.  xii.  9. 

2  Acts  xxiii.  6. 

3  Sabatier,  “The  Apostle  Paul,”  tr.  1891,  p.  49,  ana  note. 

4  Acts  xxii.  3. 

5  Gal.  iii.  7. 

6  Gal.  iv.  28. 


46  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

of  the  dead  beneath,  the  angelic  and  malicious 
presences  governing  human  life,  the  original  Eden 
and  its  sin,  the  judgment  day  when  the  dead  shall 
rise  and  know  their  fate,— all  this  was  wrought 
into  the  early  education  of  Saul,  and  reappears  in 
Paul’s  maturer  philosophy  of  religion.  “You 
know,”  he  writes  to  the  Galatians,  “the  story  of 
my  past  career  in  Judaism  .  .  . ;  how  I  outstripped 
many  of  my  own  age  and  race  in  my  special  ardour 
for  the  ancestral  traditions  of  my  house.”  1  “It 
is  evident  that  a  large  proportion  of  what  is  tradi¬ 
tionally  known  as  Paulinism  ...  is  the  Jewish 
theology  of  his  time.”  2 

Yet,  together  with  this  consistent  loyalty  to  his 
hereditary  Hebraism,  there  is  revealed  in  Paul  an 
acquaintance  with  Greek  thought  and  life  which 
has  perplexed  many  scholars,  alike  by  its  intimacy 
and  by  its  limitations.  It  has  been  often  urged 
that  this  acquaintance  was  superficial  or  accidental; 
that  he  might  quote  at  Athens  “some  of  your  own 
poets,”  3  or  cite  the  comic  poet  Menander,4  or  even 
appropriate  the  terms  of  Greek  ethics,  without  more 
than  a  casual  knowledge  assimilated  by  a  suscepti¬ 
ble  mind.  Paul’s  habitual  attitude  towards  Greek 
thought  is  one  of  indifference  or  hostility.  He  pro¬ 
tests  that  he  cares  nothing  for  the  “elaborate  words 
of  wisdom”  5  which  Greek  rhetoric  and  philosophy 
inculcated,  and  that  his  teaching  was  to  the  Greeks 
“sheer  folly.”  6  His  forms  of  argument  are  rab- 

1  Gal.  i.  13,  14.  4 1  Cor.  xv.  33. 

2  Weinel,  “Paulus,”  2te  Aufl.,  1915,  s.  14.  6 1  Cor.  ii.  1. 

3  Acts  xvii.  28.  6 1  Cor.  i.  23. 


THE  MAN 


47 


binical,  and  the  dark  problems  of  moral  conflict 
through  which  his  mind  gropes  its  way  lie  far  from 
the  sunny  region  of  Greek  serenity  and  charm.  Yet 
there  are  many  evidences  of  familiarity  with  the 
Greek  mind,  if  not  of  sympathy  with  the  Greek 
spirit,  which  make  it  difficult  to  regard  Paul  as  an 
alien.  “He  uses  Greek,”  it  has  been  justly  said, 
“not  like  a  foreigner  who  has  acquired  it  in  mature 
years,  but  with  the  ease  and  freedom  of  one  born 
to  its  use.”  1  The  most  eminent  living  historian 
of  Greek  literature  has  expressed  himself  on  this 
point  with  characteristic  confidence  and  force. 
“Paul  did  not  gain  directly  the  Greek  elements 
in  his  culture.  .  .  .  Hellenism  is  for  him  an  antece¬ 
dent  condition.  .  .  .  He  is  carved  from  a  solid 
block.  He  is  a  Jew,  as  Jesus  is  a  Jew.  Yet  this  Jew, 
this  Christian,  thinks  Greek,  and  writes  it  .  .  .  and 
this  Greek  has  no  relation  to  any  school  or  pattern, 
but  issues  unprompted,  in  an  overflowing  strain 
straight  from  his  heart,  yet  remains  Greek,  and 
not  translated  Aramaic  (as  in  the  sayings  of  Jesus). 
All  this  makes  Paul  a  classic  in  Hellenism.  At 
last,  at  last,  another  voice  is  speaking  Greek,  out 
of  a  fresh  and  inward  experience.  .  .  .  This  style  of 
writing  is  Paul,  and  no  one  but  Paul.  It  is  neither 
the  style  of  a  private  letter,  nor  yet  of  litera¬ 
ture  .  .  .  but  of  something  between.  All  literature 
was  to  him  folly.  The  artistic  strain  was  lacking, 
yet,  for  this  very  reason,  one  must  estimate  more 
highly  the  artistic  result  at  which  he  arrives.  .  .  . 
Paul  demonstrated  for  all  time  that  man  can  find 
.  1 J.  H.  Ropes,  “The  Apostolic  Age,”  1906,  p.  104. 


48  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

God  by  another  path  than  that  which  the  Greeks 
had  found  and  taught.” 1  In  short,  the  very 
spontaneity,  precipitancy,  and  unstudied  charac¬ 
ter  of  Paul’s  Greek  would  seem  to  indicate,  not 
imperfect  acquaintance,  but  rather  a  familiarity 
which  feels  no  need  of  exposition  or  defence.  Paul 
remains  a  Jew,  but  his  unclassical  Greek  has 
become  a  classic.2 

A  third  agent  in  moulding  the  mind  of  Paul  was 
the  environment  of  Roman  culture.  Tarsus  was 
not  only  a  centre  of  Greek  thought  but  had  been 
the  seat  of  a  Roman  governor;  and  the  young 
Saul,  though  born  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  had 
acquired,  either  through  service  by  his  ancestors  or 
through  purchase  by  them,  the  privilege  of  Roman 
citizenship.  “Are  you  a  Roman  citizen?”  asked 
the  commander  at  Jerusalem,  and  Paul  answered 
“Yes.”  “The  commander  replied,  ‘I  had  to  pay 
a  large  sum  for  this  citizenship,’  ‘But  I  was  born  a 
citizen,’  said  Paul.”  3  It  was  a  condition  of  birth 
which  was  singularly  propitious  for  one  who  was  to 

1  Wilamowitz-Mollendorff,  “Die  griechische  Literatur  des 
Altertums,”  2te  Aufl.,  1907,  ss.  159,  160  (in  “Die  Kultur  der 
Gegenwart,”  ed.  Hinneberg). 

2  Commentators  have,  as  a  rule,  failed  to  observe  that  the  fine 
saying  of  Paul:  “There  is  no  law  against  those  who  practice  such 
things  ”  (Gal.  v.  23),  occurs  in  precisely  the  same  words  in  Aris¬ 
totle’s  Politics,  III,  xiii,  14:  (Kara  Se  rwv  tolovtcdv  ovk  tarn 
vofjios,  avTol  yap  dat  v6p,os  =  “Such  men  therefore  are  not  the 
object  of  law;  for  they  are  themselves  a  law.”  Tr.  Ellis,  1912.) 
Does  this  identity  indicate  that  Paul  had  read  Aristotle,  or  is  the 
apostle  merely  seizing  on  a  classic  and  pertinent  phrase? 

3  Acts  xxii.  27,  28. 


THE  MAN 


49 


carry  his  cause  on  successive  journeys  through 
many  Roman  provinces,  and  to  come  at  last  to 
Rome  itself.  The  imperium  Romanum  dominated 
the  entire  ancient  world,  and  that  stupendous 
unity,  with  its  centralized  control  and  its  diversified 
administration,  may  well  have  suggested  to  Paul 
his  figure  of  the  body  and  its  members,  which  more 
than  once,  and  with  such  effectiveness,  he  applied 
to  fellowship  in  Christ.  “As  the  human  body  is 
one  and  has  many  members,  all  the  members  of 
the  body  forming  one  body  for  all  their  number,  so 
is  it  with  Christ.”  1  The  organization  of  fellowship 
which  Paul  proposed  was,  it  is  true,  a  much  more 
limited  unity  than  the  vast  fabric  of  the  Roman 
Commonwealth.  To  conclude,  with  Professor 
Royce,  that  a  new  social  order  was  Paul’s  chief 
design,  and  that  “the  being  whom  he  called  Christ 
Jesus  was  in  essence  the  spirit  of  the  universal 
community,”  seems  to  leave  quite  out  of  account 
the  obvious  fact  that  Paul’s  supreme  attachment 
was  not  to  a  community,  but  to  a  person.  The  body 
of  which  he  writes,  with  its  many  members,  has  its 
unity,  not  in  the  members,  but  in  the  Head.  The 
social  order  is  the  instrument  of  the  “mind  of 
Christ.”  Paul’s  Beloved  Community  was  not  a 
universal  society,  but  a  Church.  Within  the  mass 
of  Roman  civilization,  there  was  the  hidden  unity 
of  Christ’s  people.  Imperial  Rome  was  but  a  sym¬ 
bol  of  Christian  organization.  The  Christian  life 
in  this  world  was,  to  Paul,  “a  colony  of  heaven.”  2 

JI  Cor.  xii.  12;  Rom.  xii.  4,  5;  Col.  iii.  n. 

2  Phil.  iii.  20. 


50  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

In  Paul,  then,  as  perhaps  in  no  other  historic 
personality,  the  three  main  currents  of  ancient 
history  met.  He  was  a  Jew,  but  his  Hebrew  faith 
had  a  Hellenic  form  and  a  Roman  environment. 
On  the  cross  of  Jesus  an  inscription  was  written  in 
Hebrew  and  Greek  and  Latin,  as  though  the 
three  types  of  contemporary  civilization  met  at 
its  feet.  What  was  thus  written  on  the  cross  of 
Jesus  was  written  on  the  life  of  Paul,  and  this  un¬ 
precedented  convergence  of  influences  and  tradi¬ 
tions  prepared  the  way  for  the  expansion,  through 
the  work  of  one  man,  of  a  provincial  sect  into  a 
cosmopolitan  religion. 

If  Paul  conformed  to  Jewish  custom,  he  was 
about  fourteen  years  of  age  when  he  began  his 
studies  in  Jerusalem.  “How  I  lived  from  my 
youth  up  among  my  own  nation  and  at  Jerusalem,” 
he  says,  “all  that  early  career  of  mine,  is  known 
to  all  the  Jews.”  1  These  early  years  must  have 
been  a  period  of  exacting  discipline:  “Asa  Pharisee, 
I  lived  by  the  principles  of  the  strictest  party  in  our 
religion.”  2  Memorizing  of  the  text  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  of  commentaries  on  that  text; 
reciting  the  approved  interpretations;  allegorizing 
the  history,  so  that  external  events  were  trans¬ 
muted  into  spiritual  lessons, — all  these  ingenious 
devices  for  disguising  history  and  exalting  tradition 
must  have  been  appropriated  by  the  receptive 
mind  of  the  growing  boy.  From  this  early  training 
Paul  never  entirely  emancipated  himself.  History, 
even  the  history  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  never  had  the 
1  Acts  xxvi.  4.  2  Acts  xxvi.  5. 


THE  MAN 


51 


first  place  in  his  mind.  Allegory  remained  with 
him  a  convincing  form  of  argument.  Sarah  and 
Hagar  are  “two  covenants/’  “which  things  are  an 
allegory.”  1  The  rock  from  which  Israel  drank 2 
was  Christ.3  It  was  a  long  and  painful  road  which 
a  mind  thus  instructed  must  travel  before  it  could 
reach  what  Paul  later  describes  as  “a  single  devo¬ 
tion  to  Christ.”  4 

The  circumstances  of  Saul’s  life  in  Jerusalem 
would  appear  to  have  been  those  of  ease  and  culture. 
His  Roman  citizenship  set  him  above  the  general 
condition  of  the  Jews,  while  his  training  for  a  trade, 
far  from  reducing  him  to  the  artisan  class,  was 
accepted  as  essential  in  the  education  of  a  prospec¬ 
tive  rabbi.5  There  is  no  record  of  these  formative 
years,  but  it  may  be  assumed  that  they  were 
occupied  with  the  ordinary  routine  of  a  student, 
“in  all  the  strictness  of  our  ancestral  Law.”  6  Not 

1  Gal.  iv.  24  A.  V.  2  Ex.  xvii.  4-7;  Num.  xx.  6-13. 

3 1  Cor.  x.  4.  4 II  Cor.  xi.  3. 

5  Schiirer,  “Geschichte  des  jiidischen  Volkes,”  3te  AufL,  II.  s. 
318:  “It  is  written  in  the  Mishna,  ‘If  any  one  takes  pay  for 
a  judicial  decision,  his  sentence  is  void.’  The  rabbis  were,  there¬ 
fore,  dependent  on  other  sources  for  their  livelihood.  Many 
had  property  of  their  own;  others  followed  a  trade  in  addition 
to  the  study  of  the  Law.  Rabban  Gamaliel  III.,  son  of  R. 
Judah  ha-Nasi,  especially  commends  the  combination  of  the 
study  of  the  Law  with  civil  occupation,  ‘for  employment  in  both 
restrains  from  sin.  Study  of  the  Law  without  business  activity 
must  at  last  be  interrupted,  and  leads  to  transgression.’  The 
Apostle  Paul,  it  is  well  known,  followed  a  trade  while  a 

preacher  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  same  is  recorded  of  many 

rabbis.” 

6  Acts  xxii.  3. 


52  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

until  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus  had  recovered  from 
the  shock  of  their  Master’s  death  and  in  the  assur¬ 
ance  of  his  risen  life  waited  “for  what  the  Father 
promised,”  1  was  Paul  roused  to  reflect  that  the 
new  faith  might  present  a  phenomenon  of  which 
an  educated  Jew  should  take  account.  The  attitude 
of  Gamaliel  continued  to  be  that  of  a  detached 
and  kindly  tolerance.  “If  this  project  or  enter¬ 
prise  springs  from  men,  it  will  collapse;  whereas 
if  it  really  springs  from  God,  you  will  be  un¬ 
able  to  put  them  down.”  2  His  young  pupil  was  of 
a  less  judicial  habit  of  mind.  He  might  be  a 
bigot,  but  he  could  not  be  a  neutral.  Bred  in 
the  “strictest  party  in  our  religion,”  3  he  could 
not  observe  with  indifference  this  gathering  of 
“devout  Jews  from  every  nation  under  heaven”  4 
in  the  name  of  a  malefactor  whom  the  Jews  them¬ 
selves  had  brought  to  the  cross.  There  were  but 
two  conceivable  alternatives, — either  the  humiliat¬ 
ing  surrender  of  a  scholar’s  mind  to  the  delusions 
of  these  fisher-folk,  or  else  an  unsparing  opposition 
to  their  fanatical  claims;  and  Saul  chose  the  latter. 
“I  once  believed  it  my  duty,”  he  said,  “indeed  ac¬ 
tively  to  oppose  the  name  of  Jesus  the  Nazarene.”  5 
No  half-way  measures  could  satisfy  such  a  nature. 
“I  persecuted  this  Way  of  religion  to  the  death.”  6 
“When  they  were  put  to  death,  I  voted  against 
them.”  7 

At  this  point,  Saul  was  confronted  by  the  death 

1Actsi.  4.  4  Acts  ii.  5.  6Actsxxii.  4. 

2  Acts  v.  38,  39.  5  Acts  xxvi.  9.  7  Acts  xxvi.  10. 

3  Acts  xxvi.  5. 


THE  MAN 


53 


of  Stephen.  That  young  zealot,  whose  “face  shone 
like  the  face  of  an  angel,”  1  “full  of  faith  and  the 
holy  Spirit,” 2  had  spoken  “blasphemy  against 
Moses  and  God,”  3  and  “against  this  holy  Place 
and  the  Law.”  4  He  had  even  arraigned  the  high 
priest  and  his  followers  as  “betrayers  and  mur¬ 
derers.”  5  The  young  scholar,  trained  in  academic 
restraint,  could  not  degrade  himself  by  joining  the 
abusive  mob;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  could  not, 
like  Gamaliel,  stand  altogether  aside.  Stephen  had 
brought  his  fate  upon  himself.  Nothing  could  be 
more  suggestive  of  the  consenting  looker-on  than 
the  casual  phrase,  “The  witnesses  laid  their  clothes 
at  the  feet  of  a  youth  called  Saul.”6  He  would 
not  stone,  but  “quite  approved  of  his  murder.”7 
For  the  moment,  he  maintained  that  poise  of  judg¬ 
ment  which  Pilate  exhibited  in  the  case  of  Jesus. 
“I  cannot  find  anything  criminal  about  him,”  8 
Pilate  said,  and  then  “released  the  man  they 
wanted  .  .  .  and  Jesus  he  handed  over  to  their 
will.”  9  Saul  was  of  another  mould.  Neutrality 
was  to  him  both  cowardly  and  self-defeating. 
Consent  to  the  death  of  Stephen  was  participa¬ 
tion  in  the  crime.  There  was  but  one  course  for  an 
honest  man  and  that  was  to  take  sides.  Thereupon 
the  young  student  threw  himself  into  the  attack. 
He  “persecuted  the  church  of  God  and  harried 
it,”  10  shutting  up  “many  of  the  saints  in  prison, 


1  Acts  vi.  15. 

2  Acts  vi.  5. 

3  Acts  vi.  11. 

4  Acts  vi.  13. 


5  Acts  vii.  s  2  A.  V. 

6  Acts  vii.  58. 

7  Acts  viii.  1;  xxii.  20. 

8  Luke  xxiii.  4. 


9  Luke  xxiii.  25. 

10  Gal.  i.  13. 


54  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  and  the  modern  world 

armed  with  authority  from  the  high  priests.”  1 
His  “every  breath  was  a  threat  of  destruction.”  2 
He  pursued  the  heretics  “even  to  foreign  towns,”  3 
and  procured  “letters  to  the  synagogues  at  Damas¬ 
cus  empowering  him  to  put  any  man  or  woman  in 
chains  whom  he  could  find  belonging  to  the  Way, 
and  bring  them  to  Jerusalem.” 4  The  conflict 
between  feeling  and  logic  which  reappears  through¬ 
out  the  spiritual  history  of  Paul  had  begun.  His 
convictions  drove  him  to  acts  from  which  every 
fibre  of  his  sensitive  nature  recoiled.  It  was  for 
such  a  man  the  only  way  to  the  light.  He  must 
go  through  this  experience,  not  round  it.  Saul  the 
persecutor  is  the  forerunner  of  Paul  the  apostle. 

What  happened  to  Saul,  “as  he  neared  Damascus 
in  the  course  of  his  journey,”  5  has  been  interpreted 
in  many  different  ways.  Indeed,  in  its  details  it  is 
variously  interpreted  in  the  three  narratives.6 
According  to  one  report,  “his  fellow-travellers 
stood  speechless,  for  they  heard  the  voice  but  they 
could  not  see  anyone;”7  according  to  another 
report,  the  same  “companions  saw  the  light,  but 
they  did  not  hear  the  voice  of  him  who  talked.”  8 
In  one  account  it  is  said  that  Paul  “though  his 
eyes  were  open  could  see  nothing;”9  but  later  the 
apostle  himself,  as  he  recalls  the  experience,  says, 
“Have  I  not  seen  Jesus  our  Lord?”  10  These  varia- 

1  Acts  xxvi.  io. 

2  Acts  ix.  i,  tr.  Weymouth,  “The  New  Testament  in  Modern 
Speech,”  1902. 

3  Acts  xxvi.  11.  4  Acts  ix.  2.  5  Acts  ix.  3. 

6  Acts  ix.  3  ff.;  xxii.  6  ff.;  xxvi.  12  ff.  7  Acts  ix.  7. 

8  Acts  xxii.  9.  9  Acts  ix.  8.  10 1  Cor.  ix.  1. 


THE  MAN 


55 


tions  in  the  record  have  encouraged  some  commen¬ 
tators  to  indulge  in  speculations  of  different  degrees 
of  crudity  or  coarseness.  The  experience  of  Paul,  it 
has  been  suggested,  was  a  dream,  a  trance,  a  night¬ 
mare,  a  sunstroke,  an  epileptic  fit.  Yet  the  ac¬ 
counts  of  this  spiritual  revolution,  though  differing 
in  details,  are,  in  their  main  outlines,  not  only 
singularly  consistent  with  each  other,  but,  when 
taken  in  connection  with  Paul’s  earlier  career, 
become  psychologically  probable.  A  young  stu¬ 
dent,  scrupulously  trained  in  reverence  for  the 
Law,  is  suddenly  confronted  by  the  evidence  of 
amazing  serenity  and  sacrifice  in  a  Christian  “wit¬ 
ness.”  Thinking  of  this,  as  he  goes  his  way  along 
the  Damascus  road,  he  is  overwhelmed  by  the 
conviction  that  his  zeal  has  been  terribly  and 
humiliatingly  mistaken,  and  that,  while  he  had 
once  believed  it  his  “duty  indeed  actively  to  oppose 
the  name  of  Jesus  the  Nazarene,”  1  he  had  been 
blind  to  a  higher  vision  and  unheeding  to  an  in¬ 
ward  voice.  Like  many  a  later  convert,  untutored 
like  Joan  of  Arc  or  the  peasant  girl  of  Lourdes, 
royal  like  Constantine,  scholastic  like  Augustine, 
worldly  like  Ignatius  Loyola, — the  sudden  and 
unanticipated  vision  of  Jesus  convinces  him  of  his 
sin,  and  in  an  instant  transforms  his  life. 

The  marks  of  such  experiences  have  been  enumer¬ 
ated  as  ineff ability,  illumination,  transiency,  passiv¬ 
ity.2  All  these  characteristics  of  conversion  are 

1  Acts  xxvi.  9. 

2W.  James,  “Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,”  1903,  pp. 
380  ff. 


56  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

conspicuous  in  the  event  which  abruptly  revolution¬ 
ized  the  life  of  Paul.  From  this  spiritual  crisis  the 
young  convert  proceeded  under  the  compelling  and 
unrelaxing  authority  of  a  new  ideal.  He  “got  up 
from  the  ground,  but  though  his  eyes  were  open  he 
could  see  nothing;  so  they  took  his  hand  and  led 
him  to  Damascus.  For  three  days  he  remained 
sightless,  he  neither  ate  nor  drank.”  1  Finally,  a 
disciple  called  Ananias,  who  had  heard  “about  all 
the  mischief  this  man  has  done  to  thy  saints  at 
Jerusalem,”  2  felt  himself  called  of  God  to  the  aid 
of  Saul,  who  was  “praying  at  this  very  moment,”  3 
and,  entering  the  house,  said  to  him,  “  ‘Saul,  my 
brother,  I  have  been  sent  by  the  Lord,  by  Jesus 
who  appeared  to  you  on  the  road,  to  let  you  regain 
your  sight  and  be  filled  with  the  holy  Spirit.’  In  a 
moment  something  like  scales  fell  from  his  eyes,  he 
regained  his  sight,  got  up  and  was  baptized.  Then 
he  took  some  food  and  felt  strong  again.  For 
several  days  he  stayed  at  Damascus  with  the 
disciples.  He  lost  no  time  in  preaching  through¬ 
out  the  synagogues  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God — 
to  the  amazement  of  all  his  hearers,  who  said,  ‘Is 
this  not  the  man  who  in  Jerusalem  harried  those 
who  invoke  this  Name,  the  man  who  came  here 
for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  them  all  in 
chains  to  the  high  priests?  ’  ”  4  Here  was  a  new  type 
of  disciple,  an  educated  gentleman,  a  Roman  citi¬ 
zen,  a  man  of  the  world,  who  had  renounced 
everything  which  had  hitherto  seemed  to  him 

1Acts  ix.  8-9.  3  Acts  ix.  11. 

2  Acts  ix.  13.  4  Acts  ix.  17-21. 


THE  MAN 


57 


revealed  religion,  and  counted  it  all  “the  veriest 
refuse”  1  as  compared  with  this  faith  of  a  perse¬ 
cuted  sect.  It  is  not  surprising  that  “the  Jews, 
after  a  number  of  days  had  elapsed,  conspired  to 
make  away  with  him.”  2  He  had  abjured  all  that 
was  most  precious  both  to  his  fellow-students  and 
to  his  teacher,  Gamaliel.  What  seemed  to  them  a 
stumbling-block  had  become  the  corner-stone  of  his 
religious  life,  and  on  it  he  was  to  build  a  structure 
of  thought  whose  stability  neither  he  nor  those  who 
went  about  to  “make  away  with  him”  could 
foresee. 

The  first  steps  taken  by  the  new  convert,  as  he 
contemplated  his  unprecedented  task,  are  de¬ 
scribed  in  two  narratives  which  in  many  details 
are  not  easily  reconciled,  but  which, — whatever  may 
be  the  true  sequence  of  events, — are  alike  in  throw¬ 
ing  new  light  on  Paul’s  temperament  and  char¬ 
acter.  According  to  the  account  given  by  Paul 
himself,  he  did  not  at  first  associate  himself  with 
the  other  disciples,  but  retired  to  a  secluded  region 
which  he  describes,  in  a  large  phrase,  as  “Arabia.” 
It  was  a  voluntary  novitiate,  a  period  of  reflection 
and  restraint,  during  which  the  truth  which  he  had 
been  so  abruptly  called  to  preach  might  be  assimi¬ 
lated  and  clarified.  “Instead  of  consulting  with 
any  human  being,”  he  says,  “instead  of  going  up 
to  Jerusalem  to  see  those  who  had  been  apostles 
before  me,  I  went  off  at  once  to  Arabia,  and  on  my 
return  I  came  back  to  Damascus.  Then,  after  three 
years,  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  make  the  acquaint- 
1  Phil.  iii.  8.  2  Acts  ix.  23. 


58  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

ance  of  Cephas.  I  stayed  a  fortnight  with  him.”  1 
At  the  end  of  this  period  of  probation,  which  might 
seem  a  sufficient  test,  a  still  more  prolonged  term 
of  seclusion  and  silence  followed.  Distrusted  or 
self-distrustful,  he  “went  to  the  districts  of  Syria 
and  of  Cilicia,”  where  he  remained,  probably  in 
some  modest  missionary  service,  for  the  astonish¬ 
ing  period  of  ten  or  more  years;  being,  as  he  says, 
“quite  unknown  to  the  Christian  churches  of 
Judaea;  they  merely  heard  that  ‘our  former  per¬ 
secutor  is  now  preaching  the  faith  he  once  har¬ 
ried.  ’  ”  2  It  was  a  period  of  self-subordination  and 
discipline  such  as  few  converts  have  ever  been 
called  to  endure,  and  it  was  not  until  the  end  of 
these  fourteen  years  of  obscurity,  and  when  he 
was  not  less  than  forty  years  of  age,  that  this  dis¬ 
trusted  convert  asserted  his  right  to  undertake 
important  service.  He  “went  up  to  Jerusalem 
again,  accompanied  by  Barnabas,”  and  conferred 
with  “the  so-called  ‘authorities/ ” 3  “and  when 
they  recognized  the  grace  I  had  been  given,  then 
the  so-called  ‘pillars’  of  the  church,  James  and 
Cephas  and  John,  gave  myself  and  Barnabas  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship.  Our  sphere  was  to  be 
the  Gentiles,  theirs  the  circumcised.”  4 
The  Apostle  Paul  is  usually  regarded  as  im¬ 
pulsive  and  precipitate;  but  here  are  the  marks  of 
a  reserve  of  power  and  a  patient  submission  to 
self-discipline  which  are  not  without  their  lessons 
for  modern  Christians.  The  ministry  of  Jesus 

1  Gal.  i.  16-18.  3  Gal.  ii.  i,  6. 

2  Gal.  i.  21-23.  4  Gal.  ii.  8-9. 


THE  MAN 


59 


touches  the  imagination  by  its  brevity.  What 
might  he  not  have  done  and  said  and  even  written, 
if  his  life  had  not  been  so  soon  cut  oh?  The  adven¬ 
ture  of  Paul,  as  thus  described  by  himself,  is  hardly 
less  appealing  through  its  restraint.  Jesus  died 
at  about  thirty  years  of  age,  with  the  great  con¬ 
fession,  “It  is  finished.”1  “I  have  finished  the 
work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do.”  2  His  chief 
apostle  was  able  to  wait  until  middle  life  for  his 
mission  to  become  clarified  and  sure.  The  work 
of  Paul,  like  that  of  his  Master,  began  in  a  with¬ 
drawal  from  activity.  Each,  at  the  outset  of  his 
mission,  felt  the  need  of  solitary  reflection  and 
ripened  decision.  Saul,  like  Jesus,  wrestled  in 
that  wilderness  with  the  devils  of  ambition  and 
self-display;  and  when  at  last  his  ministry  began, 
it  was  with  something  of  his  Master’s  reassurance 
and  authority.  He  had  not  only  fought  through 
his  problem,  but  thought  it  through;  and  he  re¬ 
turned  to  active  service  of  the  new  cause  with  a 
plan  of  campaign  which  gathered  into  his  teaching 
all  that  he  had  learned  of  Hebrew  tradition,  Greek 
wisdom,  and  Oriental  mythology,  and  gave  a  new 
definition  and  expansion  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 
His  period  of  seclusion  was  a  valley  of  decision 
in  which  the  day  of  the  Lord  was  near.  By  pro¬ 
longed  reflection  and  gathering  determination  he 
was  at  last  prepared  for  a  hitherto  unimagined 
and  world-embracing  task. 

The  narrative  in  the  Book  of  Acts  gives  a  differ¬ 
ent  series  of  events,  but  leaves  the  same  impression 
1  John  xix.  30.  2  John  xvii.  4  A.  V. 


60  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

of  persistency  and  patience.  According  to  this 
account,  Paul,  after  his  conversion,  “got  to  Jeru¬ 
salem  and  tried  to  join  the  disciples,  but  they  were 
all  afraid  of  him,  unable  to  believe  he  was  really  a 
disciple;  ”  and  when  this  troublesome  brother  was 
dismissed  to  seclusion,  it  is  recorded,  with  per¬ 
haps  unconscious  irony,  that  “all  over  Judaea, 
Galilee,  and  Samaria,  the  church  enjoyed  peace.”  1 
It  was  not  permitted,  however,  to  enjoy  peace 
when  the  energy  and  initiative  of  Paul  were  once 
released.  As  the  message  of  the  Gospel  spread 
northward  from  Jerusalem,  and  the  disciples  at 
Antioch  were  for  the  first  time  given  the  name  of 
Christians,  one  of  the  more  prominent  leaders  at 
Jerusalem,  Barnabas,  who  had  already  expressed 
confidence  in  Paul,2  was  despatched  to  Antioch, 
and  took  with  him  his  less  conspicuous  companion, 
“where  for  a  whole  year  they  were  the  guests  of 
the  Church  and  taught  considerable  numbers.”  3 
It  was  the  first  step  in  that  vast  and  daring  adven¬ 
ture  which  through  all  succeeding  generations  has 
allured  heroic  preachers  of  the  Christian  faith; 
the  first  expression  of  the  conviction  that  the  Gos¬ 
pel  was  given,  not  for  the  comfort  of  a  chosen  people 
alone,  but  for  the  spiritual  renewal  of  a  waiting 
world. 

At  the  end  of  a  year  at  Antioch,  according  to 
this  report,  the  missionary  enterprise  there  begun 
reacted,  as  has  so  often  occurred  in  the  history 
of  missions,  on  the  churches  at  home,  and  those 
who  had  been  sent  to  foreign  parts  returned  with 

1  Acts  ix.  26,  31.  2  Acts  ix.  27.  3  Acts  xi.  26. 


THE  MAN 


6l 


a  larger  conception  of  their  faith  to  the  centre  of 
authority.  It  happened  that  a  famine  threatened 
the  brethren  at  Jerusalem,  and  Paul  and  Barnabas 
came  thither,  bearing  relief  from  the  more  prosper¬ 
ous  region  about  Antioch;1  and,  “ after  fulfilling 
their  commission”  returned  to  Antioch  “ bringing 
with  them  John,  who  is  surnamed  Mark.”  2  There, 
“ after  fasting  and  praying,”  certain  “prophets 
and  teachers”  “laid  their  hands  on  them  and  let 
them  go,”  and  “they  went  down  to  Seleucia  and 
from  there  they  sailed  to  Cyprus.”  3  “When  the 
two  men  started  out,”  it  has  been  remarked,  “it 
was  Barnabas  and  Paul;  when  they  returned,  it 
was  Paul  and  Barnabas.”  4 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  first  considerable 
journey  undertaken  by  “Commissioners  for  For¬ 
eign  Missions.”  It  covered  the  chief  towns  of 
Cyprus  and  southern  Galatia,  and  the  two  preachers 
made  their  first  appeal  in  the  established  synagogues 
of  their  earlier  faith.  They  were  met,  however, 
by  angry  hostility.  It  was  the  often-repeated 
story  of  obstructive  ecclesiasticism  and  stagnating 
orthodoxy.  If,  it  was  argued,  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  were  Jews,  they  must  teach  the  ancient 
doctrines;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  they  were  not  Jews, 
nothing  which  they  taught  deserved  a  hearing.  At 
Iconium,  “there  was  a  hostile  movement  to  insult 
and  stone  them.”  5  At  Lystra,  the  Jews,  “after 

1  Acts  xi.  30.  2  Acts  xii.  25.  3  Acts  xiii.  1,  3,  4. 

4W.  L.  Phelps,  “Reading  the  Bible,”  1919,  p.  53.  Cf.  Acts 
xi.  30;  xiii.  43,  46;  but  note,  also,  Acts  xv.  12. 

6  Acts  xiv.  5. 


62  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

pelting  Paul  with  stones,  ....  dragged  him 
outside  the  town,  thinking  he  was  dead.”  1  At 
the  close  of  this  perilous  ministry,  the  two  evangel¬ 
ists,  who  had  already  been  deserted  by  their  com¬ 
panion  Mark,  returned  to  Antioch,  and  “  reported 
how  God  had  been  with  them,”  and  “  what  he  had 
done.”  2  Then,  on  hearing  that  much  scepticism 
prevailed  among  the  brethren  at  Jerusalem  con¬ 
cerning  the  free  gospel  which  they  had  preached 
to  uncircumcised  Gentiles,  they  proceeded  thither 
for  a  conference,  the  significance  of  which  is  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  long  and  detailed  report  of  it  pre¬ 
served  in  the  Book  of  Acts.3  It  was  the  first  crisis 
which  the  expanding  brotherhood  had  been  called 
to  meet.  Must  one  who  would  be  a  Christian  first 
become  a  Jew?  Was  the  rite  of  circumcision  a 
prerequisite  for  fellowship  in  Christ?  Much  might 
be  urged  in  defence  of  the  conservative  view.  It 
was  a  Jew  whom  the  new  brotherhood  commemo¬ 
rated,  and  it  was  as  a  Jewish  sect  that  it  had  grown. 
What  right  had  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  preach  a 
gospel  of  the  Open  Door? 

It  was  the  first  of  many  controversies  among 
Christians  between  logic  and  life,  between  form 
and  content,  between  the  letter  and  the  spirit,  and 
on  its  decision  depended  in  large  part  the  destiny 
of  the  Christian  religion.  Was  that  religion  to  be 
circumscribed  by  ceremonialism,  tradition,  and  con¬ 
formity,  or  was  it  to  be  God’s  gift  to  every  recep¬ 
tive  life;  so  that,  as  Peter,  according  to  this  account, 
finally  urged,  “in  cleansing  their  hearts  by  faith 

1  Acts  xiv.  19.  2  Acts  xiv.  27.  3  Acts  xv.  6-29. 


THE  MAN 


63 


he  made  not  the  slightest  distinction  between  us 
and  them”  ?  1  The  same  issue  has  been  repeatedly 
raised  in  the  long  and  weary  history  of  ecclesiastical 
domination  and  sectarian  claims;  and  Paul  himself, 
by  the  irony  of  history,  has  been  often  misinterpreted 
as  the  apostle  of  a  restricted  orthodoxy.  Yet  the 
conference  at  Jerusalem  would  seem  to  be  a  con¬ 
clusive  protest  against  all  these  limitations  of  the 
grace  of  God.  Christian  liberalism  had  its  original 
and  sufficient  justification  when,  after  “a  keen 
controversy,”  2  it  was  finally  determined  that  the 
brethren  at  Jerusalem  “  ought  not  to  put  fresh 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  those  who  are  turning 
to  God  from  among  the  Gentiles.”  3  Thereupon 
‘The  apostles  and  the  presbyters,  together  with 
the  whole  church,  decided  to  select  some  of  their 
number  and  send  them  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  to 
Antioch.”  4 

Fortified  by  this  endorsement,  Paul  and  Barna¬ 
bas  returned  to  Antioch,  “teaching  and  preaching 
the  word  of  the  Lord.”  5 6  Then,  “some  days  later, 
Paul  said  to  Barnabas,  ‘Come  and  let  us  go  back 
to  visit  the  brothers  in  every  town  where  we  have 

1  Acts  xv.  9.  2  Acts  xv.  7.  3  Acts  xv.  19. 

4  Acts  xv.  22. 

The  serious  difficulty  of  reconciling  the  two  accounts  of  this 

conference  (Acts  xv.  and  Gal.  ii.)  is  elaborately  examined  by 
Lake  (“Earlier  Epistles,”  pp.  281  ff.).  The  alternative  is  to 
place  the  interview  of  Gal.  ii.  at  the  time  of  Paul’s  visit  with 

famine  relief  in  Acts  xi.  “My  own  view  is  that  the  objections 
to  placing  Gal.  ii.  at  the  time  of  the  famine  are  much  the  less 
serious,  but  I  recognize  that  they  are  real.” 

6  Acts  xv.  35. 


64  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

proclaimed  the  word  of  the  Lord.  Let  us  see  how 
they  are  doing;’  ”  1  and  a  second  missionary  jour¬ 
ney  was  planned.  A  personal  difference,  however, 
which  throws  some  light  on  the  character  of  both, 
here  parted  the  two  colleagues.  Barnabas  pro¬ 
posed  to  take  with  him  the  same  Mark  who  had 
before  deserted  the  mission;  but  “Paul  held  they 
should  not  take  a  man  with  them  who  had  de¬ 
serted  them  in  Pamphylia,  instead  of  accompany¬ 
ing  them  on  active  service.”  2  A  man  who  had 
once  failed  them  should  not,  he  thought,  be  trusted 
again.  Paul’s  judgment  of  others  was  as  rigid 
as  the  judgment  he  passed  on  his  own  defects 
or  sins.  “So  in  irritation  they  parted  com¬ 
pany,  Barnabas  taking  Mark  with  him  and  sail¬ 
ing  for  Cyprus,  while  Paul  selected  Silas  and  went 
off.  .  .  .  He  made  his  way  through  Syria  and 
Cilicia,  strengthening  the  churches.”  3 
The  eyes  of  the  world,  in  the  course  of  the  vast 
war  which  has  devastated  Europe  in  the  twentieth 
Christian  century,  have  been  again  turned  to  this 
very  region  through  which  Paul  made  his  strategic 
advance.  From  the  Dardanelles  to  Athens,  this 
coast  has  been  rediscovered  by  thousands  of 
eager  inquirers,  tracing  on  their  maps  the  tragic 
records  of  the  Gallipoli  campaign.  Along  this 
shore,  by  sea  and  land,  Paul  journeyed,  until  at 
length  he  reached  Athens  itself.  There,  at  first, 
“he  argued  in  the  synagogue  with  the  Jews,”  4 
but  soon  encountered  “some  of  the  Epicurean  and 

1  Acts  xv.  36.  3  Acts  xv.  39-41. 

2  Acts  xv.  38.  4  Acts  xvii.  17. 


THE  MAN 


65 


Stoic  philosophers,”  1  and  his  greatest  oratorical 
opportunity  arrived.  Standing  in  the  presence 
of  the  monuments  of  Greek  worship,  with  candor 
softened  by  courtesy  he  pointed  to  the  shrines 
of  the  Acropolis,  and  with  consummate  rhetorical 
skill  cited  the  poets  of  Greece  to  confirm  his 
message  and  endorse  his  claim.  It  was  the  perfect 
type  of  missionary  discourse  addressed  to  culti¬ 
vated  hearers,  tolerant  yet  discerning,  ingenious 
yet  restrained,  and  adding  even  a  touch  of  playful 
irony  in  the  great  appeal:  “Well,  I  proclaim  to 
you  what  you  worship  in  your  ignorance.”  2  From 
Athens  Paul  proceeded  to  Corinth,  where  he  re¬ 
mained  more  than  a  year,  returning  at  last  by  way 
of  Ephesus  and  Caesarea  to  Antioch,  to  meet  the 
brethren  once  more. 

So  extended  and  venturesome  a  journey  as  he 
had  now  accomplished  would  seem  enough  to 
satisfy  missionary  zeal;  but  it  had  in  fact  only 
spurred  the  indefatigable  Paul  to  attempt  another 
campaign.  After  spending  some  time  in  the  cen¬ 
tres  of  Christian  fellowship,  he  set  forth  again, 
with  undiminished  energy,  to  revisit  the  churches 
of  Asia,  proceeding  as  far  as  Corinth,  and  remain¬ 
ing  for  two  years  or  more  at  Ephesus.  There  the 
Quixotic  hope  revived  in  him  that  he  might  reach 
even  the  Imperial  City,  and  he  purposed  to  go 
to  Jerusalem,  saying,  “After  I  get  there  .  .  .  .,  I 
must  also  visit  Rome.”  3  The  hope  was  fulfilled, 
but  in  a  manner  far  from  that  which  he  thus  con- 

1  Acts  xvii.  18.  2  Acts  xvii.  23. 

3  Acts  xix.  21.  Cf.  Rom.  xv.  23  ff. 


66  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

fidently  planned.  No  sooner  did  he  reach  Jeru¬ 
salem  than  he  found  himself,  as  many  a  returning 
missionary  has  done,  involved  in  the  controversies 
of  legalism  and  orthodoxy  whose  lingering  vitality 
he,  in  his  larger  work,  had  almost  forgotten.  For 
the  sake  of  peace,  he  even  submitted  himself  to 
the  Jewish  ritual  of  purification; 1  but  the  “Asiatic 
Jews,”  who  had  been  aware  in  the  missionary 
field  itself  of  Paul’s  radical  liberalism,  “catching 
sight  of  him  in  the  temple,  stirred  up  all  the  crowd 
and  laid  hands  on  him.”  2  Roman  soldiers  were 
summoned  to  rescue  Paul  from  the  mob;  and  he 
was  finally  sent  under  guard  to  the  Governor  at 
Caesarea.  There,  after  being  detained  two  years, 
he  demanded  that  as  a  Roman  citizen  he  should 
be  tried  at  Rome  itself;  and  Festus,  the  Governor, 
answered,  “You  have  appealed  to  Caesar?  Very 
well,  you  must  go  to  Caesar!  ”3  Even  the  au¬ 
thority  of  Herod  Agrippa,  the  second  of  that  name 
to  rule  with  the  title  of  King,  could  not  deny  this 
proud  right  of  a  Roman.  “  ‘He  might  have  been 
released,’  said  Agrippa  to  Festus,  ‘if  he  had  not 
appealed  to  Caesar.  ’  ”  4  Not  as  a  missionary, 
therefore,  but  as  a  prisoner  under  indictment,  not 
in  chains  but  under  guard,  Paul  set  out  on  that 
journey  of  which  he  had  dreamed  as  the  climax 
of  his  career;  and  by  the  strange  course  of  judicial 
appeal  was  able  to  reach  the  goal  which  by  the 
way  of  missionary  adventure  he  might  never 
have  seen. 


1  Acts  xxi.  26. 

2  Acts  xxi.  27. 


3  Acts  xxv.  12. 

4  Acts  xxvi.  32. 


THE  MAN 


67 


The  eventful  voyage  which  followed,  with  its 
many  perils  and  final  shipwreck,  is  described 
with  graphic  detail  in  the  narrative  of  the  Book 
of  Acts;  and  the  story  remains,  both  as  a  dramatic 
unity  and  as  a  technical  record,  the  delight  of  all 
who  love  a  tale  of  the  sea.1  The  soundings  in 
fathoms,  the  launching  of  the  boat  by  treacherous 
seamen,  the  cutting  of  her  rope  “to  let  her  fall 
off,”  the  grounding  of  the  vessel  after  her  crew 
had  “hoisted  the  foresail  to  the  breeze,  and  headed 
for  the  beach;”  the  peremptory  order  for  “those 
who  could  swim  to  jump  overboard  first  and  get 
to  land,  while  the  rest  were  to  manage  with  planks 
or  pieces  of  wreckage;  ” — all  this  not  only  exhibits 
Paul  as  a  moral  hero,  but  has  the  genuine  flavor 
of  a  mariner’s  log.  To  Rome  at  last,  then,  through 
the  many  vicissitudes  of  a  protracted  journey,  the 
traveller  came,  and  there  he  “got  permission  to 
live  by  himself,  with  a  soldier  to  guard  him,”  2 
and  dwelt,  we  are  told,  for  two  years  “in  his  private 
lodging,  welcoming  anyone  who  came  to  visit  him; 
he  preached  the  Reign  of  God  and  taught  about 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  quite  openly  and  unmo¬ 
lested.”  3 

At  this  point,  history  becomes  silent,  and  the 
story  of  Paul’s  trial  and  of  his  last  days  is  left 
for  pious  tradition  to  report.  That  during  this 
mild  captivity  he  wrote  the  touching  letters  to  the 
Philippians  and  the  Colossians  appears  probable 
from  their  contents;  and  the  less  assured  letter  to 
the  Ephesians  bears  something  of  the  same  mark. 

1  Acts  xxvii.  27-44.  2  Acts  xxviii.  16.  3  Acts  xxviii.  30-31. 


68  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Whether  he  was  finally  set  free,  and  fulfilled  the 
intention  announced  in  his  letter  to  the  Romans, 
“I  have  had  a  longing  to  visit  you  whenever  I 
went  to  Spain,  I  am  hoping  to  see  you  on  my  way 
there,”  1  and  again,  “Well,  once  I  finish  this  busi¬ 
ness.  ...  I  will  start  for  Spain  and  take  you 
on  the  way;”2  whether,  returning  from  Spain, 
he  was  re-arrested,  accused  with  other  Christians 
of  the  burning  of  Rome,  tried,  condemned,  and 
beheaded, — all  this  is  for  the  historical  imagination, 
fortified  by  early  tradition  and  by  intrinsic  prob¬ 
ability,  to  determine.8 

The  great  Basilica  of  St.  Paul  (S.  Paolo  fuori 
le  Mura),  on  the  road  to  the  port  of  Ostia,  stands 
not  far  from  the  spot  where,  according  to  various 
historians,  he  was  buried; 4  and  the  Church  of 
the  Three  Fountains  (S.  Paolo  alle  tre  Fontane), 
on  the  supposed  site  of  martyrdom,  perpetuates 
the  beautiful  tradition  that  as  his  head  in  falling 
struck  three  times  upon  the  ground,  three  streams 

1  Rom.  xv.  23,  24.  2  Rom.  xv.  28. 

3  Clement  of  Rome  i.  5:  “Paul,  after  preaching  both  in  the 
East  and  West  .  .  .  suffered  martyrdom  under  the  prefects.” 
Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  ii.  25.  “Likewise,  a  certain  ecclesiastical 
author,  Caius  by  name,  who  was  born  about  the  time  of  Zephyri- 
nus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  .  .  .  gives  the  following  statement  respect¬ 
ing  the  place  where  the  earthly  tabernacles  of  the  aforesaid  Apos¬ 
tles  are  laid:  ‘But  I  can  show  you,’  says  he,  ‘the  trophies  of  the 
Apostles;  for  if  you  will  go  to  the  Vatican,  or  to  the  Ostian  Road, 
you  will  find  the  trophies  of  those  who  have  laid  the  foundation  of 
this  Church.” 

4  Jerome,  De  viris  illustribus,  ch.  V.,  “Hie  ergo  quarto  decimo 
Neronis  anno  (eodem  die  quo  Petrus)  Romse  pro  Christo  capite 
truncatur  sepultusque  est  in  via  Ostiensi.” 


THE  MAN 


69 


of  water  rose.1  “His  tomb/’  it  has  been  sug¬ 
gestively  said,  “is  beneath  ‘St.  Paul’s  without 
the  Walls  ’ ;  and  in  spite  of  the  mighty  impres¬ 
sion  he  made  in  his  own  day,  in  spite  of  the  venera¬ 
tion  of  his  name,  for  the  bulk  of  the  Christian 
Church,  this  passionate  champion  of  a  religion, 
free,  personal,  and  ethical  remains  ‘outside  the 
walls’.  It  is  for  those  who  can  never  satisfy  them¬ 
selves  with  institutional  or  legal  religion  that  he 
has  in  every  age  a  message.”  2 

Such,  in  brief,  were  the  most  significant  events 
of  this  adventurous  life.  Those  who  are  primarily 
interested  in  meditative  or  aesthetic  types  of 
character  may  find  something  lacking  in  the  story 
of  Paul.  Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  appre¬ 
ciate  the  man  of  action — and  these  are  the  great 
majority  of  modern  readers — may  turn  to  Paul 
with  a  sense  of  affinity  and  fellowship  which  they 
cannot  claim  in  recalling  his  unperturbed  and 
meditative  Master.  Augustine,  in  his  “little 
garden”  at  Milan,  hears  “a  voice  as  of  a  boy  or 
girl  often  repeating,  ‘Take  up  and  read,’  ”  and,  as  - 
he  says,  “grasped,  opened,  and  in  silence  read  that 
paragraph  on  which  my  eyes  first  fell:  ‘Not  in 
rioting  and  drunkenness,  not  in  chambering  and 
wantonness,  not  in  strife  and  envying;  but  put  ye 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  make  no  provision 

1  Acta  Sanctorum,  June,  vii.  33:  “Abscisso  autem  Pauli  capite 
triplici  saltu  sese  sustollente  tres  statim  perennis  aquse  fontes 
emersere  quam  religionis  ergo  hodie  potamus.” 

2  C.  Harold  Dodd,  “The  Meaning  of  Paul  for  Today,”  1920, 
p.  29. 


70  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

for  the  flesh,  to  fulfill  the  lusts  thereof.’  No 
further  would  I  read,”  he  says,  “nor  did  I  need,  for 
instantly,  as  the  sentence  ended,  by  a  light  as  it 
were  of  security  infused  into  my  heart,  all  the 
gloom  of  doubt  vanished  away.”  1  Luther,  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  son  Paul,  is  offering  his  preces  grad¬ 
uates  on  the  Scala  Santa  at  Rome,  when  suddenly 
there  comes  to  his  mind  the  saying  of  the  prophet 
Habakkuk  which  Paul  had  cited,2  “The  just  shall 
live  by  their  faith,”  and  forthwith  a  new  conviction 
possesses  his  mind.3  John  Wesley  writes  in  his 
Journal,  on  May  24,  1738,  “In  the  evening  I  went 
very  unwillingly  to  a  society  in  Aldersgate  Street 
where  one  was  reading  Luther’s  preface  to  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  ...  I  felt  my  heart 
strangely  warmed.  I  felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ, 
Christ  alone  for  my  salvation;  and  an  assurance 
was  given  me  that  he  had  taken  away  my  sins, 
even  mine,  and  saved  me  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death.”  4 

What  other  figure  in  history  is  so  many-sided,  so 
masterful,  so  modern ,  as  this  untiring  traveller,  this 
persuasive  orator,  this  subtle  reasoner,  this  in¬ 
domitable,  fearless,  enduring  man?  His  catalogue 
of  adventures  is  that  of  an  explorer  rather  than  of  a 

1  “Confessions,”  Book  XII. 

2Hab.  ii.  4;  Rom.  i.  17. 

3  J.  Kostlin,  “Martin  Luther,”  1883,  i.  105.  The  edition  of 
1903,  ed.  Kawerau,  regards  the  story  as  of  doubtful  authority, 
the  record  being  made  thirty-eight  years  after  the  event.  Cf. 
Preserved  Smith,  “Life  and  Letters  of  Martin  Luther,”  19 11, 
p.  19. 

4C.  T.  Winchester,  “The  Life  of  John  Wesley,”  1906,  p.  57. 


THE  MAN 


71 


saint.  “  Three  times  I  have  been  beaten  by  the 
Romans,  once  pelted  with  stones,  three  times  ship¬ 
wrecked,  adrift  at  sea  for  a  whole  night  and  day; 
I  have  been  often  on  my  travels,  I  have  been  in 
danger  from  rivers  and  robbers,  in  danger  from 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  through  dangers  of  town  and 
of  desert,  through  dangers  on  the  sea,  through 
dangers  among  false  brothers — through  labour  and 
hardship,  through  many  a  sleepless  night,  through 
hunger  and  thirst,  starving  many  a  time,  cold  and 
ill-clad,  and  all  the  rest  of  it.”  1  Yet  these  external 
vicissitudes  were,  after  all,  only  incidental  in  the 
experience  of  Paul.  Within  this  scene  of  travel, 
hardship  and  danger  the  real  drama  of  his  spiritual 
conflict  moved.  The  shipwreck  at  sea  was  but  a 
symbol  of  the  shipwreck  of  his  inherited  faith,  from 
which,  as  if  on  “  pieces  of  wreckage,”  he  reached 
firm  shore.  “A  night  and  a  day  in  the  deep”  were 
a  less  perilous  venture  than  the  long  struggle,  like 
that  of  a  panting  swimmer,  among  the  waves  of 
discouragement  and  doubt.  The  spiritual  history 
of  Paul  has  brought  him  near  to  multitudes  of 
human  lives  in  their  own  experiences  of  contrition, 
illumination,  and  assurance,  and  has  made  him 
the  kind  of  saint  which  the  modern  world  can  recog¬ 
nize  and  revere.  His  missionary  journeys  were  not 
along  the  coast  of  the  ^Rgean  alone,  but  across 
the  uncharted  seas  of  human  sin  and  hope. 


1 II  Cor.  xi.  25-27. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  LETTERS 

When  one  passes  from  a  brief  review  of  the 
story  of  Paul  the  man,  and  proceeds  to  examine 
his  letters,  one  is  immediately  confronted  by  the 
difficulty  of  reading  these  letters  as  they  were 
meant  to  be  read.  Such  letters  are  sadly  miscon¬ 
ceived  when  studied  as  theological  treatises,  or 
revered  as  inspired  oracles.  They  were  written  for 
immediate  purposes  or  dictated  to  an  amanuensis, 
and  were  addressed,  as  occasion  demanded,  to 
special  churches  or  individuals  where  advice  was 
desired,  or  where  the  writer’s  authority  had  been 
questioned  or  opposed.  Several  letters  of  Paul 
seem  to  have  been  lost,  and  others  are  “  messages 
which  wTould  have  been  delivered  orally  had  the 
apostle  been  present;  and  St.  Paul  would  probably 
not  have  cared  much  to  preserve  them.”  1  Affec¬ 
tion  and  indignation,  the  correction  of  misunder¬ 
standings  and  the  expression  of  indignant  protest, 
succeed  each  other  without  logical  order,  as  the 
writer’s  mood  may  suggest.  Rules  about  food, 
irreverence  at  the  Lord’s  Supper,  doctrinal  con¬ 
troversies,  are  discussed  in  quick  succession  and 
with  equal  vigor.  The  manner  is  at  times  so 

1  W.  R.  Inge,  “Outspoken  Essays,”  1919,  p.  207. 

72 


THE  LETTERS 


73 


vehement  that  a  sentence  is  left  unfinished  while 
the  writer  hurries  to  a  new  thought.1  Tenderness, 
reproof,  exhortation,  affectionate  greetings,  hastily 
succeed  each  other  as  each  letter  ends. 

This  unstudied  abruptness  makes  large  demands 
on  the  modern  reader.  To  understand  such  letters 
and  their  allusions,  one  must  appreciate,  not  only 
what  the  temporary  issues  were,  but  what  kind  of 
man  was  writing  about  them.  In  other  words,  the 
interpretation  of  the  letters  presupposes  both  his¬ 
torical  and  psychological  preparedness.  Many  of 
the  subjects  discussed,  while  entirely  familiar  both 
to  the  writer  and  to  those  addressed,  have  become 
remote,  or  even  unintelligible.  In  a  study  of  the 
Pauline  Epistles  of  striking  originality  and  in¬ 
sight,  the  philosopher  John  Locke,  two  centuries  ago, 
called  attention  to  this  elusive  character  of  epis¬ 
tolary  evidence.  “The  matters  that  St.  Paul  writ 
about  were  certainly  things  well  known  to  those 
he  writ  to,  and  which  they  had  some  peculiar  con¬ 
cern  in;  which  made  them  easily  apprehend  his 
meaning  and  see  the  tendency  and  force  of  his 
discourse.  But  we  having  now,  at  this  distance,  no 
information  of  the  occasion  of  his  writing,  little 
or  no  knowledge  of  the  temper  and  circumstances 
those  he  writ  to  were  in,  but  what  is  to  be  gathered 
out  of  the  epistles  themselves,  it  is  not  strange  that 
many  things  in  them  lie  concealed  to  us,  which,  no 
doubt,  they  that  were  concerned  in  the  letter,  under- 

1  “Est  ex  vehementia  loquendi  imperfecta  et  suspensa  senten¬ 
tial  Colet,  cited  by  Seebohm,  “The  Oxford  Reformers,”  ed. 
I9i3>  P-  34>  note. 


74  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

stood  at  first  sight.”  1  Still  further,  a  letter  not 
infrequently  assumes  earlier  correspondence,  and 
may  allude  to  matters  already  discussed  either  by 
one’s  self  or  by  another.  Thus,  in  writing  to  the 
Corinthians,  Paul  says,  “In  my  letter  I  wrote,”  2 
and  the  “attractive  guess”  has  been  ventured 
that  fragments  of  this  lost  letter  are  imbedded  in 
the  text  of  the  existing  Epistles.3 

Nor  is  this  the  only  difficulty  which  confronts 
the  modem  reader;  for  these  letters,  not  always 
easy  to  understand  in  themselves,  require  also  for 
their  interpretation,  like  other  letters,  an  under¬ 
standing  of  the  circumstances  and  motives  which 
prompted  the  writer.  The  style  varies  with  Paul’s 
mood  or  theme;  he  is  now  harsh  and  now  tender; 
at  one  moment  passionate  and  at  another  for¬ 
giving.  Humility  alternates  with  pride.  A  letter 
may  begin  with  a  subtle  philosophy  of  religion 
and  end  with  the  most  intimate  and  personal 
counsel;  or  the  thought  may  rise  from  one  level  to 
another,  as  Paul  reflects  on  his  theme;  or,  yet 
again,  beginning  with  self-explanation  or  self- 
defence,  a  letter  may  rise  to  heights  of  vision  and 
breadth  of  horizon,  to  descend  finally  to  the  more 
familiar  level  of  affectionate  greeting  or  farewell. 
Each  letter  is  thus  like  the  journey  of  a  traveller 
along  the  hills  and  valleys  of  experience,  yet  a 

1  “The  Works  of  John  Locke,”  9th  Ed.  1794,  VII.  iv.  “An 
Essay  for  the  Understanding  of  St.  Paul’s  Epistles  by  consulting 
St.  Paul  himself.” 

2 1  Cor.  v.  9. 

3  Lake,  “The  Earlier  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,”  p.  123. 


THE  LETTERS 


75 


journey  undertaken  as  a  predetermined  march 
toward  a  definite  end.  Those  to  whom  such 
letters  were  addressed  were  familiar  with  this 
impetuous  personality  and  made  due  allowance 
for  his  varying  or  inconsistent  manner  of  speech; 
but  a  later  generation,  reverently  examining  each 
paragraph  as  of  equal  authority,  and  reading  as  an 
act  of  worship  what  was  written  in  the  unguarded 
language  of  an  intimate  friend,  may  give  dispro¬ 
portionate  emphasis  to  incidental  phrases  or  ideas. 

Paul  is  often  described  as  obscure;  but  this 
impression  is,  as  a  rule,  the  result  of  reading  a 
letter  as  though  it  were  a  treatise.  A  letter- writer 
may  permit  himself  rapid  transitions  and  informal 
conciseness.  His  pace  of  expression  may  be  quick¬ 
ened  because  the  correspondents  understand  the 
intervening  thought.  An  intimation  or  reminis¬ 
cence  may  be  equivalent  to  an  argument.  It  may 
not,  indeed,  be  easy  to  follow  a  teacher  who  ascends 
so  boldly  to  the  heights  of  his  reasoning,  or  de¬ 
scends  so  confidently  to  explain  the  profoundest 
mysteries  of  God’s  ways  with  men;  yet  to  one  who 
cares  for  these  great  adventures  of  the  spirit,  Paul 
is  never  a  guide  who  has  lost  his  way ;  he  knows  his 
path  and  walks  with  a  firm  step.  The  difficulty  in 
accompanying  him  occurs,  first,  through  the  nature 
of  the  region,  and,  second,  through  the  swiftness 
of  the  pace.  “I  think,”  continues  John  Locke, 
“that  there  is  not  anywhere  to  be  found  a  more 
pertinent,  close  arguer  who  has  his  eye  always  on 
the  mark  he  drives  at.  ...  I  do  not  say  that  he  is 
everywhere  clear  in  his  expressions  to  us  now,  but 


76  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

I  do  say  that  he  is  everywhere  a  coherent,  perti¬ 
nent  writer.”  It  is  with  the  letters  of  Paul  some¬ 
what  as  with  the  poetry  of  Robert  Browning. 
What  seems  to  be  obscurity  is  often  in  reality  speed. 
The  sluggish  reader  is  left  behind  by  the  agility  of 
the  thought.  The  argument  must  be  brought  down 
while  on  the  wing. 

Here,  then,  is  a  curious  situation.  The  character 
of  Paul  must  be  rediscovered  through  his  letters, 
yet  the  letters  become  intelligible  only  as  one  in 
some  degree  understands  Paul.  A  letter  which 
was  originally  a  candid  disclosure  of  the  writer’s 
mind  may  be  misinterpreted  when  detached  from 
its  environment  of  time  and  thought;  and  a  person 
who  to  his  contemporaries  was  singularly  accessible 
may  be  transformed  by  mistaken  reverence  or 
ingenious  criticism  into  an  oracle  or  a  sophist. 
Much  study  of  the  Pauline  Epistles  has  been 
fruitless  because  they  have  been  approached 
as  theological  tracts;  and  much  study  of  Paul 
himself  has  assumed  him  to  be  a  consistent  philoso¬ 
pher,  when,  in  fact,  his  maturing  mind  was  from 
time  to  time  expressing  as  best  it  could  the  ideals 
and  desires  which  had  thus  far  claimed  his  devotion. 
The  modern  reader,  looking  for  consistency  or 
uniformity,  finds  himself  watching  a  hurrying 
river  of  expression,  which  sweeps  on  with  recurrent 
eddies  and  enlarging  stream.  Fixity  and  invaria¬ 
bility  are  not  easy  to  discover  in  a  writer  whose 
aim  is  momentum  and  power.  One  is  watching 
theology  in  the  making,  a  mind  in  motion,  a  style 
which  leaps  at  transitions  and  delights  in  para- 


THE  LETTERS 


77 


doxes.  Freedom  and  predestination,  justice  and 
mercy,  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and  the  con¬ 
tinuity  of  the  spirit,  the  man  Jesus  and  the  eternal 
Christ, — these  apparently  divergent  conceptions 
are  swept  into  the  current  of  Paul’s  thought,  or 
swell  its  volume  as  from  side-channels  of  reflection. 
His  practical  counsels  exhibit  the  same  variation 
in  emphasis  and  tone.  Humility  and  self-assertion, 
the  sense  of  weakness  and  the  authority  of  a 
master,  abruptly  succeed  each  other.  “I  am,” 
he  says,  “ unfit  to  bear  the  name  of  apostle;”  1  yet 
“I  am  not  one  whit  inferior  to  these  precious 
‘apostles.’”  2  “Let  them  vaunt  as  they  please, 
I  am  equal  to  them  (mind,  this  is  the  role  of  a 
fool!).”  3  Yet,  with  not  less  emphasis,  he  writes, 
“It  was  in  weakness  and  fear  and  with  great 
trembling  that  I  visited  you.”  4 
The  difficulties  which  thus  meet  the  modern 
reader  of  such  letters  are,  however,  not  without 
compensations,  and  may  reassure  rather  than 
discourage  him.  They  indicate  that  this  familiar 
and  intimate  correspondence  was  primarily  ad¬ 
dressed,  not  to  theologians  who  would  demand 
consistency  and  precision,  but  to  congregations  of 
plain  people  among  the  immediate  needs  of  practi¬ 
cal  life.  If  this  was  the  audience  to  which  the 
letters  were  addressed,  it  would  appear  probable 
that  their  main  intention  may  be  discovered,  not 
exclusively  by  scholars,  but  in  some  degree  by 
readers  of  the  same  uninstructed  type  to-day. 

1 1  Cor.  xv.  g.  3 II  Cor.  xi.  21. 

2 II  Cor.  xi.  5.  4 1  Cor.  ii.  3. 


78  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

There  are,  no  doubt,  many  allusions  and  discrimina¬ 
tions  which  demand  much  learning  for  their  inter¬ 
pretation.  One  may  concur  in  the  conclusion  of 
early  readers  of  Paul’s  letters,  that  “our  beloved 
brother  Paul  has  written  .  .  .  letters  containing 
some  knotty  points,  which  ignorant  and  unsteady 
souls  twist  (as  they  do  the  rest  of  the  scriptures)  to 
their  own  destruction.”  1  Yet  he  would  be  a  most 
incompetent  letter-writer  who  did  not  make  un¬ 
mistakably  plain,  even  to  a  casual  reader,  what  he 
regarded  as  most  essential  to  communicate.  A 
letter  from  a  friend  to  a  friend  would  seem  to  de¬ 
mand  for  its  reading  little  more  than  a  reasonable 
degree  of  intelligence,  and  some  understanding  of 
the  circumstances  or  problems  which  the  writer 
had  in  mind. 

These  considerations  may  encourage  one  who 
applies  himself,  not  to  investigate  every  corner  of 
Paul’s  mind,  but  to  discover  what,  on  the  whole, 
the  apostle  wanted  most  definitely  to  teach. 
Something  may  be  missed  of  the  finer  discrimina¬ 
tions  or  by-products  of  the  apostle’s  thought, 
but  one  may  at  least  read  the  letters  as  they 
were  meant  to  be  read,  cursorily  and  continu¬ 
ously,  as  the  plain  people  heard  them  for  whose 
sakes  they  were  dictated  or  composed.  Here 
are  nine  or  ten  letters,  written  in  obvious  haste, 
and  often  with  passionate  heat;  concerned,  as  let¬ 
ters  usually  are,  with  matters  of  contemporary 
interest,  recalling  questions  asked  in  earlier  cor- 


THE  LETTERS 


79 


respondence,  reiterating  instructions  which  had 
been  orally  given  or  conveyed  in  earlier  letters, 
deploring  quarrels,  rebuking  disloyalty,  challeng¬ 
ing  criticism,  expressing  affection.  They  are  the 
lavish  outpouring  of  a  vigorous  mind  and  a  sensi¬ 
tive  heart,  with  all  the  marks  of  spontaneity, 
precipitancy  and  intimacy.  Great  propositions 
concerning  God  and  man  are  thrown  off  as  Paul 
proceeds,  as  from  a  mind  surcharged  with  electric 
energy;  but  the  correspondence  as  a  whole  is 
conversational,  hortatory,  self-explanatory,  affec¬ 
tionate.  “The  truth  is,”  as  a  most  competent 
scholar  has  lately  affirmed,  “that  Paul  cannot  be 
placed  under  any  of  the  ordinary  categories.  .  . 
We  have  to  keep  in  view,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
artless  and  occasional  character  of  Paul’s  letters, 
and,  on  the  other,  their  claim  ...  to  be  the  me¬ 
dium  of  a  Gospel,  a  redeeming  message,  which  has  a 
right  to  challenge  attention  and  obedience.”  1  To 
wrest  such  documents  from  their  environment  and 
set  them  in  the  vacuum  of  infallibility,  is  to  miss 
the  atmosphere  of  reality  which  they  breathe,  and 
in  the  pious  attempt  to  give  them  universal  author¬ 
ity  to  leave  unobserved  the  characteristics  which 
originally  gave  them  authority  and  force.  May 
we  not,  then,  as  a  discerning  English  scholar  has 
suggested,  “venture  to  cast  aside  extreme  timidity, 
and  to  read  the  letters  of  Paul  as  we  read  those  of 
Cicero,  more  in  the  light  of  an  historical  imagina- 

1  H.  A.  A.  Kennedy,  “The  Theology  of  the  Epistles,”  1920, 
PP-  4,  5- 


80  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

tion  and  of  spiritual  sympathy  than  in  a  purely 
critical  spirit?”  1 

These  considerations  encourage  the  reexamina¬ 
tion  of  Paul’s  letters  by  those  who  cannot  claim 
specialized  qualification  as  exegetical  or  philosophi¬ 
cal  scholars;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  the  vast 
library  of  expositions  and  commentaries  concerned 
with  the  letters  of  Paul  permanent  vitality  has 
been  secured  quite  as  much  by  observations  like 
those  of  the  philosopher  of  common  sense,  John 
Locke,  and  those  of  the  apostle  of  culture,  Matthew 
Arnold,  as  by  many  researches  of  theological  experts. 
In  an  illuminating  passage  of  Goethe’s  autobiogra¬ 
phy,  he  gives  his  approval  to  this  appreciation  of 
literature  in  general  and  of  the  Bible  in  particular. 
“In  all  that  we  receive  by  tradition,”  he  says, 
“especially  by  written  tradition,  the  fundamental 
problem  is  to  discover  the  inner  meaning  and  in¬ 
tention  of  the  work.  Here  is  the  original,  divine, 
effective,  unimpeachable,  and  imperishable  part, 
against  which  time  and  external  conditions  are  as 
powerless  as  bodily  sickness  is  powerless  against  a 
well-disciplined  soul.  ...  To  explore  this  inner  and 
specific  character  of  a  writing  which  thus  appeals 
to  us  is  practicable  for  any  one.  First  of  all  one 
must  ask  himself  how  it  affects  his  own  inner  life 
and  how  far  its  vitality  stirs  and  fructifies  his  own. 
All  that  is  external  for  oneself  or  doubtful  in  itself 
may  be  left  to  the  critics,  who,  though  they  may  be 
able  to  dismember  and  divide,  cannot  rob  one  of 

1  Percy  Gardner,  “The  Religious  Experience  of  Saint  Paul,” 


THE  LETTERS 


8l 


that  inner  meaning  to  which  he  clings,  or  even  for 
a  moment  make  one  lose  the  assurance  he  has 
found.  .  .  .  Through  this  principle,  the  Bible  be¬ 
came  to  me  for  the  first  time  interpretable.  .  .  .  The 
New  Testament  was  not  immune  from  my  in¬ 
quiries;  I  did  not  spare  it  my  passion  for  analysis; 
but  my  affection  and  inclination  accepted  the 
maxim:  ‘The  Gospel  writers  may  contradict  each 
other,  so  long  as  the  Gospel  does  not  contradict 
itself.’  ”  1 

What,  then,  one  proceeds  to  ask,  may  be  observed 
by  the  untutored  mind  of  a  modern  reader  as  the 
dominating  purpose  of  these  vigorous  and  intimate 
letters?  To  answer  this  question,  one  must  briefly 
review  the  course  of  Paul’s  correspondence,  and 
note,  so  far  as  is  practicable,  the  general  impression 
which  each  letter  conveys.  Many  problems  of 
criticism  may  be  left  unconsidered  and  many 
details  of  interpretation  undetermined,  while,  with 
such  directness  and  candor  as  one  can  command, 
the  reader  looks  for  the  apostle’s  main  intention, 
as  it  is  disclosed  among  the  multifarious  discus¬ 
sions  and  incidental  instructions  which  express 
his  indefatigable  mind.  What  is  there  that  is 
temporary,  and  what  remains  that  is  timeless  in 

1  “Aus  meinem  Leben,”  i2te  Buch,  “Werke,”  Berlin,  1872, 
XV.  s.  64.  The  reappearance  of  the  same  view  in  Coleridge  may 
suggest  something  more  than  a  coincidence:  “In  the  Bible,  there 
is  more  that  finds  me  than  I  have  experienced  in  all  other  books 
put  together;  the  words  of  the  Bible  find  me  at  greater  depths  of 
my  being;  and  whatever  finds  me  brings  with  it  an  irresistible 
evidence  of  its  having  proceeded  from  the  Holy  Spirit.”  “Con¬ 
fessions  of  an  Inquiring  Spirit,”  1853,  p.  47. 


82  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

the  letters  of  Paul?  What  does  Paul  teach  which 
the  modern  world  may  profitably  hear? 

One  may  begin  such  a  survey  with  the  two 
letters  to  the  Thessalonians, — the  earliest,  it  is 
generally  agreed,  in  chronological  sequence.  Why 
did  the  apostle  write  as  he  did?  What  prompted 
him  to  write  at  all?  What  would  have  seemed  to 
him  an  appropriate  reply  to  these  letters?  What 
form  of  approval  or  loyalty  did  he  seek?  The 
answer  to  these  questions  may  be  somewhat  em¬ 
barrassed  by  critical  doubts  concerning  the  second 
letter.  A  difference  of  tone  becomes  there  per¬ 
ceptible,  and  the  affectionate  confidence  of  the 
first  letter  is  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  severer  and 
more  official  style  of  the  second.  It  has  even  been 
argued  that  the  two  letters  could  not  have  been 
written  by  the  same  person  to  the  same  church.1 
When,  however,  one  recalls  the  impetuous  char¬ 
acter  which  the  apostle  everywhere  exhibits,  it  may 
not  be  unreasonable  to  believe  that  a  letter  of 
censure  might  quickly  follow  a  letter  of  love,  and 
that  the  second  letter  was  addressed  to  a  less  loyal, 
or  more  Jewish,  section  within  the  Thessalonian 
Church.  As  John  Colet  observed  in  1496,  “Paul 
tempers  his  speech  with  a  rare  prudence  and  art 
and,  as  it  were,  balances  his  word  as  addressed  to 
Jews  and  Gentiles.”  2 

1  See  the  discussion  in  Lake,  “The  Earlier  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,” 
1911:  “There  is  sufficient  justification  for  accepting  the  Epistle  as 
a  genuine  document  belonging,  together  with  I  Thessalonians, 
even  if  not  so  certainly,  to  the  earliest  period  of  Christian  life  in 
Thessalonica,”  p.  86. 

2  Seebohm,  “The  Oxford  Reformers,”  ed.  1913,  p.  34,  note. 


THE  LETTERS 


83 


Accepting,  then,  both  letters  as  authentic,  what 
may  one  conclude  to  be  their  dominating  aim? 
Paul,  as  elsewhere  reported,  had  taught  for  some 
time  in  Thessalonica,1  and  later  had  sent  Timothy 
thither  from  Athens  to  see  how  matters  fared 
among  the  converts.  The  report  of  this  mission 
now  prompts  Paul  to  write  without  delay.  “When 
Timotheus,”  he  says,  “reached  me  a  moment  ago 
on  his  return  from  you,  bringing  me  the  good  news 
of  your  faith  and  love  and  of  how  you  always 
remember  me  kindly,  longing  to  see  me  as  I  long 
to  see  you,  then,  amid  all  my  own  distress  and 
trouble,  I  was  cheered — this  faith  of  yours  en¬ 
couraged  me.” 2  He  writes,  it  would  appear, 
first  to  the  Greek  Christians  in  Thessalonica,  and 
then  to  their  brethren  who  still  cling  to  Jewish 
forms,  appealing  first  to  one  group  and  then  to 
the  other  for  a  more  consistent  loyalty. 

What  does  he  say  that  has  more  than  local  or 
temporary  importance?  One  must  frankly  answer 
that  little  of  such  material  is  to  be  found.  In  the 
first  letter,  it  is  true,  Paul  interrupts  his  instruc¬ 
tions  to  offer  some  bold  speculations  on  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  disciples  who  are  “asleep  in  death,” 3 
and  to  affirm  that  “the  dead  in  Christ  will  rise 
first;  then  we  the  living,  who  survive,  will  be  caught 
up  along  with  them  in  the  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air;”  4  and  in  the  second  letter  he  returns  to 
the  same  daring  prophecies,  as  though  his  first 
statement  had  been  either  insufficient  or  mis- 

1  Acts  xvii.  1-10. 

2 1  Thess.  iii.  6-7. 


3 1  Thess.  iv.  13. 

4 1  Thess.  iv.  16-17. 


84  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

understood.1  The  first  passage  applies  to  the  new 
religion  the  fantastic  eschatology  of  Hebrew  tradi¬ 
tion;  the  second  amplifies  that  teaching  by  the 
still  more  fanciful  doctrine  of  an  intervening  rule 
of  Antichrist,  “whom  the  Lord  Jesus  will  destroy 
with  the  breath  of  his  lips.”  2  We  may  infer, 
according  to  Timothy’s  report,  that  there  was 
much  concern  in  Thessalonica  about  the  “Day  of 
the  Lord,”  3  or  what  has  been  called  “an  eschatolo- 
logical  restlessness,” 4  which  Paul  attempts  to 
calm  by  applying  the  rabbinical  tradition  in  which 
he  had  been  trained ;  but  only  the  crudest  literalism 
can  find  in  these  bold  imaginings  a  permanent  sig¬ 
nificance.  Neither  the  splendid  figure  of  the  Lord 
descending  “from  heaven  with  a  loud  summons,”  5 
nor  the  “lurid  picture”6  of  the  Son  of  Perdition, 
can  be  of  practical  assistance  to  a  modern  mind  in 
interpreting  the  mystery  of  life  and  death .  B  oth  pas¬ 
sages,  as  “curiosities  of  obsolete  Jewish  thought,” 
suggest  the  early  place  of  these  letters  among  the 
writings  of  Paul.  In  both,  the  new  faith  has  hardly 
detached  itself  from  the  background  against  which 
it  was  soon  to  be  sharply  defined.7 

With  the  exception  of  these  passages,  the  two 
letters  to  the  Thessalonians  are  in  the  main  con- 

1 II  Thess.  ii.  1-12.  2 II  Thess.  ii.  8.  3 II  Thess.  ii.  2. 

4B.  W.  Bacon,  “The  Story  of  St.  Paul,”  1904,  p.  251. 

e  I  Thess.  iv.  16. 

6  Bacon,  op.  cit.,  p.  251. 

7 Jacoby,  “Neutestamentliche  Ethik,”  1899,  s.  243:  “The 
letters  to  the  Thessalonians  show  hardly  a  trace  of  that  special 
conception  of  Christian  conduct  which  distinguishes  Paul  from  the 
other  New  Testament  writers.” 


THE  LETTERS 


85 


cerned  with  immediate  affairs  and  personal  coun¬ 
sels.  The  first  is  a  message  of  parental  affection 
mingled  with  self-defence.  “  We  always  thank  God 
for  you  all.”  1  “You  are  witnesses,  and  so  is  God, 
to  our  behaviour  among  you  believers,  how  pious 
and  upright  and  blameless  it  was.”  2  The  second 
letter  is  a  sterner  demand  that  the  church  should 
justify  the  teacher’s  pride.  “Stand  firm  and  hold 
to  the  rules  which  you  have  learned  from  us  orally 
or  by  letter.”  s  “If  anyone  will  not  obey  our  or¬ 
ders  in  this  letter,  mark  that  man,  do  not  associate 
with  him.”  4  Both  letters  end  with  special  coun¬ 
sels, — the  one  against  impurity,  the  other  against 
indolence, — and  the  latter  warning  is  reenforced  by 
the  writer’s  example  of  self-respecting  industry. 
“For  you  know  quite  well  how  to  copy  us;  we  did 
not  loaf  in  your  midst,  we  did  not  take  free  meals 
from  anyone;  no,  toiling  hard  at  our  trade,  we 
worked  night  and  day,  so  as  not  to  be  a  burden  to 
any  of  you.”  5  “But  we  are  informed  that  some  of 
your  number  are  loafing,  busy-bodies  instead  of 
busy.  ...  We  charge  and  exhort  such  persons  to 
keep  quiet,  to  do  their  work  and  earn  their  own 
living.”6  How  intimate  and  familiar  all  this  is! 
How  genuine  and  cordial  are  the  salutations  which 
follow,  written  by  Paul’s  own  hand,  “a  mark,” 
he  says,  “in  every  letter  of  mine!  ”  7  These  spon¬ 
taneous  utterances  of  parental  solicitude  are  per¬ 
manently  precious,  not  as  parts  of  a  treatise  on 

1 1  Thess.  i.  2.  4 II  Thess.  iii.  14.  6  n  Thess.  ^  II?  I2< 

2 1  Thess.  ii.  io.  6 II  Thess.  iii.  7-8.  7 II  Thess.  iii.  17. 

3 II  Thess.  ii.  15. 


86  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

rabbinical  eschatology,  but  as  the  counsel  of  a 
resolute  but  loving  friend,  and  perennially  instruc¬ 
tive,  not  so  much  for  their  speculations  concerning 
the  “  arrival  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  our  muster 
before  him/’ 1  as  for  the  sanity  and  sagacity  of  their 
practical  religion.  “Keep  a  check  upon  loafers;  ” 
“Never  lose  your  temper  with  anyone;”  “Never 
give  up  prayer;”  “Thank  God  for  everything;”  2 
“Never  grow  tired  of  doing  what  is  right;”3 — 
these  admonitions  have  their  permanent  place  in 
the  history  of  ethics,  while  the  fervid  anticipation 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  “revealed  from 
heaven  together  with  the  angels  of  his  power  in 
flaming  fire,”  4  remains  of  interest  only  to  ^hose 
who  care  to  trace  the  origin  of  such  a  con¬ 
ception,  or  who  still  wait  for  this  dread  appear¬ 
ing. 

When  one  passes  from  the  letters  to  the  Thes- 
salonians  to  the  letter  addressed  to  the  Galatians, 
and  proceeds  in  the  same  manner  to  review  it,  as 
one  might  read  again  a  letter  lately  received,  asking 
what  the  writer  had  most  in  mind  to  communicate, 
one  finds  little  difficulty  in  observing  its  positive 
and  reiterated  aim.  Fortunately  for  the  modern 
readers,  there  is  prefixed  to  the  main  argument  a 
paragraph  of  self-defence,  designed  to  justify  what 
he  is  later  to  say.  This  apology  is  the  most  authen¬ 
tic  record  of  Paul’s  turbulent  career;  and  it  is 
highly  characteristic  of  his  precipitate  manner 
that  this  precious  fragment  of  autobiography 

1II  Thess.  ii.  i.  3 II  Thess.  iii.  13. 

2 1  Thess.  v.  14-17.  4 II  Thess.  i.  7,  8. 


THE  LETTERS 


87 


should  introduce  a  letter  written  for  quite  another 
purpose,  and  should  break  off  as  abruptly  as  it 
begins:  “You  know,”  he  says,  “the  story  of  my 
past  career,”  1  and  forthwith  he  proceeds  to  re¬ 
count  that  story,  and  to  claim  the  authority  which 
it  justifies.  “I  am  writing  you  the  sheer  truth,  I 
swear  it  before  God!”  2 

Armed  with  this  sense  of  complete  authority, 
Paul  vigorously  and  indignantly  announces  his 
purpose.  “The  business  of  the  letter,”  as  John 
Locke  with  singular  directness  and  sanity  stated 
it,  “is  to  dehort  and  hinder  the  Galatians  from 
bringing  themselves  under  the  bondage  of  the 
Mosaical  law.” 3  News  has  come  to  Paul  in 
Corinth  that  certain  Judaizing  brethren  in  Galatia 
are  protesting  against  his  teaching  as  lax  and  un¬ 
sound,  and  are  insisting  that  he  is  no  genuine 
apostle.  This  opposition  rouses  Paul  to  a  counter¬ 
attack,  and,  without  preamble  or  qualification,  he 
communicates  his  instructions  as  “an  apostle — 
not  appointed  by  men  nor  commissioned  by  any 
man  but  by  Jesus  Christ  and  God  the  Father.”  4 
“I  am  astonished,”  he  sternly  writes,  “you  are 
hastily  shifting  like  this.  ...  It  simply  means  that 
certain  individuals  are  unsettling  you.”  5  “O 
senseless  Galatians,  who  has  bewitched  you?” 
“Are  you  such  fools?  Did  you  begin  with  the 
Spirit  only  to  end  now  with  the  flesh?  Have  you 
had  all  that  experience  for  nothing?”6  “I  tell 
you,  if  you  get  circumcised,  Christ  will  be  of  no  use 

1  Gal.  i.  13.  3  Op.  cit.,  p.  27.  5  Gal.  i.  6,  7. 

2  Gal.  i.  20.  4  Gal.  i.  1.  6  Gal.  iii.  1,  3,  4. 


88  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


to  you.”  1  “Make  a  firm  stand  then,  do  not  slip 
into  any  yoke  of  servitude.”  2  In  this  tempestuous 
spirit,  Paul  proceeds  to  commend  his  message  by 
two  characteristic  arguments, — first,  by  an  appeal 
to  his  own  experience,3  and,  secondly,  by  an  allegory 
from  the  Old  Testament.4  Finally,  his  affection 
for  the  community  in  Galatia  quite  overcomes  his 
passionate  indignation,  and  he  concludes  with 
gentler  admonitions:  “As  we  live  by  the  Spirit, 
let  us  be  guided  by  the  Spirit.”  5  In  short,  the 
letter  is  obviously  written  to  warn  converts  against 
the  restrictions  of  Jewish  ceremonial,  and  to  assure 
them  that  they  have  the  rights,  not  of  servants, 
but  of  sons.6  As  in  many  a  modern  letter,  this 
underlying  purpose  is  disclosed  most  definitely  in 
a  postscript.  After  what  seems  a  conclusion,  and 
even  a  signature  in  the  “big  letters”  of  his  own 
hand,  the  apostle  breaks  out  once  more  in  denun¬ 
ciation:  “These  men,”  he  says,  “who  are  keen  upon 
you  getting  circumcised  are  just  men  who  want  to 
make  a  grand  display  in  the  flesh.  .  .  .  They  merely 
want  you  to  get  circumcised  so  as  to  boast  over 
your  flesh!  But  no  boasting  for  me,  none  except  in 
the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  ...  For  what 
counts  is  neither  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision, 
it  is  the  new  creation.”  7 

Thus,  the  letter  to  the  Galatians  is,  in  its  main 
intention,  an  indignant  defence  of  Christian  liberty, 
a  passionate  protest  against  religious  provincialism. 

1  Gal.  v.  2.  4  Gal.  iv.  21-31.  6  Gal.  iv.  1-7. 

2  Gal.  v.  1.  6  Gal.  v.  25.  7  Gal.  vi.  12-15. 

3  Gal.  iv.  12  ff. 


THE  LETTERS 


89 


Paul  is  not  only  a  generous  friend,  but  a  good  hater. 
He  sees  his  converts  shut  in  by  the  narrow  walls  of 
Jewish  tradition,  feeling  their  way  along  one  path 
of  approach  to  Christian  discipleship,  through  one 
ceremonial  rite  to  which  all  must  conform,  toward 
one  central  authority  to  which  all  must  submit; 
and  over  against  this  limitation  of  God’s  grace  he 
sets,  with  passionate  determination,  the  freedom 
of  God’s  Spirit.  The  reactionaries  and  the  unen¬ 
lightened  may  hedge  the  Gospel  with  Jewish  regula¬ 
tions.  “ There  were  traitors,”  Paul  says,  “of  false 
brothers,  who  had  crept  in  to  spy  out  the  freedom 
we  enjoy  in  Christ  Jesus;  they  did  aim  at  enslaving 
us  again.”1  Even  the  “so-called  ‘pillars’  of  the 
church”  might  “draw  back  and  hold  aloof.” 2 
The  message  of  Paul  is  of  complete  emancipation 
of  human  life  by  the  spirit  of  Christ.  “But  faith 
has  come,  and  we  are  wards  no  longer;  you  are 
all  sons  of  God  by  your  faith  in  Christ  Jesus.”  3 
“  There  is  no  room  for  Jew  or  Greek,  there  is  no  room 
for  slave  or  freeman,  there  is  no  room  for  male  or 
female.”  4  “Only,  do  not  make  your  freedom  an 
opening  for  the  flesh.”  5  The  new  faith  was  thus 
a  way  of  deliverance  from  religious  provincialism 
into  religious  cosmopolitanism.  It  was  given,  not 
to  create  a  new  Jewish  sect,  but  to  begin  a  new 
world-order.  The  laws  of  Christ’s  church  were  not 
to  be  imposed  from  without  or  from  above,  but  to 
be  inspired  from  within.  Christian  liberty  is  not  a 
gift  granted  to  servants,  but  a  right  inherited  by 

1  Gal.  ii.  4.  3  Gal.  iii.  25-26.  5  Gal.  v.  13. 

2  Gal.  ii.  9,  12.  4  Gal.  iii.  28. 


90  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


sons.  “The  Jerusalem  on  high  is  free,  and  she 
is  ‘our’  mother.”  1  The  letter  to  the  Galatians 
thus  becomes  the  charter  of  Christian  liberalism.2 
“For  the  entire  Law  is  summed  up  in  one  word,  in 
You  must  love  your  neighbour  as  yourself.”  3 

The  next  step  in  this  cursory  survey  brings  one 
to  the  two  letters  addressed  to  the  church  in  Cor¬ 
inth;  and  here  one  becomes  aware  of  a  larger  en¬ 
vironment  and  an  amplified  teaching.  The  same 
note  of  Christian  liberty  is  heard,  but  it  is  touched 
more  firmly,  as  by  a  teacher  who  has  become  more 
conscious  of  his  own  emancipation,  and  has  ac¬ 
quired  the  confidence  of  a  cosmopolitan  mind. 
Paul  had  already  lived  “one  year  and  six  months”  4 
in  Corinth,  that  great  commercial  centre  which 
Milman  called  “the  Venice  of  the  Old  World;”5 
and  had  there  observed  the  convergence  of  various 
civilizations  at  this  strategic  point,  and  the  moral 
degradation  of  a  great  metropolis,  with  its  conse¬ 
quent  perils  for  spiritual  religion.  He  had  also 
received  news  from  “Chloe’s  people”  6  that  there 
were  quarrels  among  the  brethren,  and  that  his 
own  authority  was  called  in  question.  “By  ‘quar¬ 
relling,’”  he  says,  “I  mean  that  each  of  you  has 

1  Gal.  iv.  26. 

2  Cf.  von  Soden,  “The  History  of  Early  Christian  Literature,” 
tr.  1906,  p.  70.  The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  “is  the  charter  of 
Christianity  as  a  new,  a  universal  religion.  ...  All  is  inward 
and  spiritual,  and  therefore  free.”  Cf.  F.  E.  Hutchinson,  “Chris¬ 
tian  Freedom,”  1920,  ch.  II  (with  a  note  on  Galatians  v.  1). 

3  Gal.  v.  14. 

4  Acts  xviii.  11. 

6  “The  History  of  Christianity,”  1840,  II.  20.  6 1  Cor.  i.  11. 


THE  LETTERS 


91 


his  party-cry.”  1  Some  had  rallied  under  Paul’s 
name;  others  had  taken  the  name  of  Apollos  or  of 
Cephas,  and  still  others,  in  a  sectarian  spirit,  the 
name  of  Christ  himself.  Earlier  correspondence 
had  passed  between  Paul  and  his  converts,  and 
three  of  the  Corinthian  brethren  had  come  in  person 
to  Ephesus,  seeking  Paul’s  advice.2  The  first  of  the 
two  letters  is  thus,  not  primarily  a  discussion  of 
abstract  principles,  but  the  reply  of  a  deeply 
agitated  teacher  to  these  reports  of  contention  and 
immorality. 

First,  and  with  impetuous  eloquence,  Paul  re¬ 
minds  his  brethren  of  that  comprehensive  faith 
which  it  had  been  his  aim  to  preach,  and  reproaches 
them  for  the  ominous  signs  of  Christian  sectarian¬ 
ism.  “  Brothers,  for  the  sake  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  I  beg  of  you  all  to  drop  these  party-cries. 
There  must  be  no  cliques  among  you;  you  must 
regain  your  common  temper  and  attitude.”  3  Not 
as  Jews,  demanding  miracles,  should  they  turn 
to  him,  nor  yet  as  Greeks  wanting  a  philosophy,  but 
rather  as  fellow-disciples  of  a  Gospel  which  was 
to  the  Jews  “a  stumbling-block,”  and  to  the  Greeks 
“sheer  folly.”  4  “We  interpret  what  is  spiritual  in 
spiritual  language.”  “  Our  thoughts  are  Christ’s 
thoughts.” 5  Was  there  ever  a  more  stirring  recall 
from  the  doctrinal  controversies  which  had  already 
begun  to  divide  and  alienate  Christian  brethren  to 
a  spiritual  interpretation  of  religion,  and  to  the 
consciousness  of  liberty  which  such  an  interpreta- 

1 1  Cor.  i.  12.  3 1  Cor.  i.  10.  6 1  Cor.  ii.  13,  16. 

2 1  Cor.  xvi.  17.  4 1  Cor.  i.  23. 


92  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

tion  creates?  What  the  Galatian  church,  in  its 
more  limited  environment,  had  already  heard  of 
emancipation  from  the  bonds  of  Judaism,  is  now 
applied  in  larger  terms  to  the  wider  world  of  Corinth. 
These  letters  are  the  Magna  Charta  of  Christian 
cosmopolitanism.  Nothing  is  alien  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  if  it  testifies  to  “the  Spirit  and  its  power.”  1 
“For  all  belongs  to  you;  Paul,  Apollos,  Cephas, 
the  world,  life,  death,  the  present  and  the  future — 
all  belongs  to  you;  and  you  belong  to  Christ,  and 
Christ  to  God.”  2 

Having  thus  reiterated  the  demand  for  spiritual 
liberty  already  made  in  the  letter  to  the  Galatians, 
the  apostle  proceeds  to  deal  with  the  moral  deg¬ 
radation  reported  to  him.  He  warns  his  converts 
against  litigiousness  3  and  incontinence,4  and  even 
against  incest.5  He  sharply  demands  that  they  bear 
in  mind  his  admonitions.  “It  was  I  who  in  Christ 
Jesus  became  your  father.  .  .  .  Certain  individuals 
have  got  puffed  up,  have  they?  ...  I  will  come 
to  you  before  long,  if  the  Lord  wills,  and  then  I  will 
find  out  from  these  puffed  up  creatures  not  what 
their  talk  but  what  their  power  amounts  to.” 6 
“Expel  the  wicked  from  your  company.”  7  “Shun 
immorality!  .  .  .  Your  body  is  the  temple  of  the 
holy  Spirit  within  you.  .  .  .  Glorify  God  with  your 
body.”  8 

His  exhortations  enter  into  many  details.  Mar¬ 
riage  and  divorce;  the  unmarried  life  and  the 

1  I  Cor.  ii.  4.  4 1  Cor.  vii.  5  ff.  7 1  Cor.  v.  13. 

2 1  Cor.  iii.  21-23.  5 1  Cor.  v.  1.  8 1  Cor.  vi.  18-20. 

3 1  Cor.  vi.  1.  6 1  Cor.  iv.  15-19. 


THE  LETTERS 


93 


remarriage  of  widows;  marriage  outside  the  Chris¬ 
tian  connection, — these  problems  of  domestic  life, 
which  had  so  disturbed  the  Corinthian  converts 
that  they  had  been  referred  to  Paul,  are  disposed 
of  in  his  masterful  and  authoritative  manner. 
Then,  with  the  same  abruptness,  his  style  and 
temper  change  as  he  approaches  another  ques¬ 
tion, — that  of  the  attitude  of  converts  toward 
certain  superstitious  observances  which  still  seemed 
to  many  not  without  merit.  Christian  liberty,  he 
insists,  does  not  mean  intolerance.  One  may  be 
convinced,  yet  be  considerate.  If  meat  offered  to 
idols  seems  to  weak  minds  sacred,  one  should 
abstain  from  offending  these  brethren.  “Now 
mere  food  will  not  bring  us  any  nearer  to  God.”  1 
“Therefore  if  food  is  any  hindrance  to  my  brother’s 
welfare,  sooner  than  injure  him  I  will  never  eat 
flesh  as  long  as  I  live,  never!”  2  How  statesman¬ 
like  is  this  sagacity,  and  how  self-revealing  is  the 
allusion  to  his  own  conduct  of  life!  “Why,  free 
as  I  am  from  all,  I  have  made  myself  the  slave  of 
all,  to  win  over  as  many  as  I  could.”  3  Circum¬ 
stances  change  with  the  passing  centuries,  and  the 
problems  of  conduct  assume  new  forms;  but  the 
instruction  of  Paul  concerning  meat  offered  to 
idols  remains  the  permanent  principle  of  Christian 
toleration:  “In  essentials,  unity;  in  non-essentials, 
liberty;  in  all  things,  charity,” — such  was  the  rule 
of  Paul. 

At  this  point,  the  letter  rises  abruptly  from  these 
specific  admonitions,  and  surveys  them  all  from  a 

1 1  Cor.  viii.  8.  2 1  Cor.  viii.  13.  3  Cor.  ix.  19. 


94  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

higher  level  as  parts  of  a  general  view  of  life. 
The  very  language  grows  richer,  becoming  lyric 
rather  than  didactic;  and  the  fragmentary  coun¬ 
sels  he  has  given  as  practical  maxims  rise  into  a 
sublime  hymn  of  Christian  love.  “I  want  you  to 
understand,”  he  says,  “about  spiritual  gifts.”1 
“Set  your  hearts  on  the  higher  talents.  And  yet  I 
will  go  on  to  show  you  a  still  higher  path.”  2  The 
searching  verses  which  follow,  more  elevated  than 
any  passage  of  the  New  Testament  except  the 
finest  utterances  of  Jesus  himself,  are  not  only  con¬ 
cerned  with  the  “Greatest  Thing  in  the  World,” 
but  are  doubly  precious  to  each  generation  of 
readers,  because  they  are  the  confession  of  a  teacher 
who  was  temperamentally  impatient  and  intoler¬ 
ant.  Conscious  of  his  own  violent  emotions  and 
quick  antipathies,  and  in  a  letter  which  abounds  in 
censure  and  rebuke,  the  apostle,  as  he  draws  to  its 
close,  finds  a  way  to  rise  above  these  issues  and  to 
announce  a  Law  of  Love.  “Love  is  very  patient, 
very  kind.  Love  knows  no  jealousy;  love  makes  no 
parade,  gives  itself  no  airs,  is  never  rude,  never 
selfish,  never  irritated,  never  resentful;  love  is 
never  glad  when  others  go  wrong,  love  is  gladdened 
by  goodness,  always  slow  to  expose,  always  eager 
to  believe  the  best,  always  hopeful,  always  pa¬ 
tient.”  3  Here  is  not  only  one  of  the  most  imper¬ 
ishable  treasures  of  literature,  but  an  assurance  to 
hasty  and  violent  natures  like  that  of  Paul  him¬ 
self,  that  there  is  open,  even  to  them,  a  “higher 
path”  of  humility  and  self-control. 

1 1  Cor.  xii.  i.  2 1  Cor.  xii.  31.  3 1  Cor.  xiii.  4-7. 


THE  LETTERS 


95 


With  this  climax,  the  letter,  if  it  had  been 
primarily  a  work  of  art,  might  fittingly  close;  but 
the  unstudied  precipitancy  of  the  writer  is  exhibited 
in  what  seems  to  be  an  unpremeditated  postscript. 
It  is  as  though,  having  finished  what  he  had  pro¬ 
posed  to  say,  there  flooded  into  his  mind  other  and 
disconnected  matters  of  which  he  must  disburden 
himself.  No  two  subjects  could  seem  to  be  more 
remote  from  each  other  than  those  which  he  now 
approaches, — first,  the  decorous  conduct  of  wor¬ 
ship,1  and  then  the  gospel  of  the  resurrection; 2 
but  he  writes  of  each  in  turn  with  the  abruptness 
and  authority  of  a  master.  In  the  first  case,  he 
applies  his  common  sense  to  the  “gift  of  tongues,” 
which  had  come  to  seem  a  sign  of  inspired  wor¬ 
ship,  and  begs  his  friends  not  to  “be  pouring  words 
into  the  empty  air,”  3  or  “  to  be  talking  gibberish.”  4 
“I  would  rather,”  he  says,  “say  five  words  with 
my  own  mind  for  the  instruction  of  other  people 
than  ten  thousand  words  in  a  ‘tongue. ’”5  “To 
sum  up,  my  brothers.  Set  your  heart  on  the 
prophetic  gift,  and  do  not  put  any  check  upon 
speaking  in  ‘tongues’;  but  let  everything  be  done 
decorously  and  in  order.”  6 

Concerning  his  gospel  of  the  resurrection  he 
is  not  less  explicit  and  authoritative,  as  though 
reiterating  a  teaching  already  given.  “I  would 
have  you  know  the  gospel  I  once  preached  to 
you.”  7  “I  passed  on  to  you  what  I  have  myself  re- 

1 1  Cor.  xiv.  26-37.  4 1  Cor.  xiv.  11.  6 1  Cor.  xiv.  39-40. 

2 1  Cor.  xv.  B I  Cor.  xiv.  19.  7 1  Cor.  xv.  1. 

3 1  Cor.  xiv.  9. 


g6  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

ceived.” 1  From  this  cardinal  faith  in  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  Christ,  Paul  rises,  however,  to  comprehen¬ 
sive  speculations  concerning  the  nature  of  this  life 
and  the  next,  and  these  meditations  have  become 
among  the  most  prized  of  Christian  teachings  and 
a  source  of  Christian  consolation  ever  since.  Paul’s 
friends  at  Corinth  had,  it  appears,  accepted  a 
belief  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  but  had  not 
regarded  this  belief  as  affecting  their  own  lives. 
The  apostle,  therefore,  argues  that  the  experience  of 
resurrection  is  one  which  all  believers  may  share. 
“Ah,  if  in  this  life  we  have  nothing  but  a  mere  hope 
in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  to  be  pitied  most!  But 
it  is  not  so !  Christ  did  rise  from  the  dead,  he  was 
the  first  to  be  reaped  of  those  who  sleep  in  death.”  2 
Thus  those  “who  belong  to  Christ”  3  share  his 
glory.  “If  dead  men  do  not  rise,  let  us  eat  and 
drink,  for  we  will  be  dead  to-morrow!”  4  Nor  do 
these  admonitions  satisfy  Paul’s  soaring  mind. 
Catching  fire  from  his  own  words,  he  breaks  into 
lyrical  prophecy  concerning  the  nature  and  destiny 
of  the  soul:  “How  do  the  dead  rise?  What  kind 
of  body  have  they  when  they  come?”5  The 

glowing  passage  which  follows,  and  which  has  been 
to  multitudes  of  pious  souls  an  adequate  interpre¬ 
tation  of  the  mystery  of  death,  does  not,  in  fact, 
encourage  critical  analysis.6  Its  archaic  zoology, 
its  fanciful  eschatology,7  its  sounding  trumpet,  at 
whose  call  the  “dead  will  rise  imperishable,”  8 — 

1 1  Cor.  xv.  3.  4 1  Cor.  xv.  32.  7 1  Cor.  xv.  51. 

2 1  Cor.  xv.  19-20.  5 1  Cor.  xv.  35.  8 1  Cor.  xv.  52. 

3 1  Cor.  xv.  23.  6 1  Cor.  xv.  39. 


THE  LETTERS 


97 


these  daring  affirmations,  at  one  point  appropriat¬ 
ing  the  language  of  the  mystery-religions,  and 
boldly  declaring  “ Behold  I  show  you  a  mystery,”  1 
at  another  point  utilizing  the  Jewish  tradition  of  a 
millennial  hope, — all  these  intermingled  and  vision¬ 
ary  prophecies  might  seem  to  confuse,  rather  than 
console,  the  modem  mind,  and  to  exhibit  a  master 
of  rhetoric  rather  than  a  rational  and  permanent 
counsellor.  Yet  it  has  been  a  trustworthy  instinct 
which  has  accepted  these  verses  as  the  classic  ex¬ 
pression  of  Christian  consolation.  Through  the 
archaic  forms  of  thought,  and  the  evanescent  pic¬ 
ture  of  a  cosmic  drama,  with  its  final  climax  oc¬ 
curring  “in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last 
trumpet-call,”  2  Christian  worshippers  have  de¬ 
tected  the  dominating  purpose  which,  in  this  post¬ 
script,  as  throughout  the  letter,  the  teacher  desires 
to  express.  What  he  has  in  mind,  and  what  he 
says  that  the  Corinthians  lack,  is  the  spiritualiza¬ 
tion  of  their  faith.  Whether  he  is  writing  of  prac¬ 
tical  morals,  or  family  life,  or  decorum  in  worship, 
or  immortality,  his  controlling  aim  is  to  recall  his 
friends  from  externalism,  conventionalism,  and 
traditionalism,  to  the  “spiritual  gifts”  which  are 
within  their  power  if  they  themselves  belong  to 
Christ.  “Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  Realm 
of  God,  nor  can  the  perishing  inherit  the  imperish¬ 
able.”  3  Emancipation  from  the  corruptible  and 
participation  with  the  Eternal, — this  is  the  sub¬ 
lime  desire  which  makes  his  closing  chapters  a 

*1  Cor.  xv.  51  A.  V.  3 1  Cor.  xv.  50. 

2 1  Cor.  xv.  52. 


98  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

fitting  corollary  to  his  lyric  of  love,  and  which 
carries  many  a  reader  without  reluctance  through 
much  dubious  physiology  and  unacceptable  es¬ 
chatology  under  the  momentum  of  a  great  and 
spiritual  hope. 

Thus  the  first  of  these  letters  to  the  Corinthians 
has  a  twofold  character.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is 
local,  immediate,  and  intimate;  answering  ques¬ 
tions,  recalling  pledges,  rebuking  misconduct,  and 
in  all  these  problems  of  social  ethics  assuming  that 
the  existing  world-order  is  soon  to  be  dissolved;  on 
the  other  hand,  it  rises  above  these  temporary 
problems  to  the  sublime  affirmation  of  a  reign  of 
Love.  The  first  of  these  aspects  of  the  letter  can 
be  for  the  modern  mind  of  historical  interest  only. 
What  Paul  thought  of  the  marriage  of  Christians 
with  non-Christians,  or  of  the  Jewish  tradition  of  a 
resurrection-body,  is  not  likely  to  seem  of  practical 
importance  among  the  new  conditions  of  modern 
lives.  The  world-order  has  not  been  dissolved  as 
Paul  anticipated;  the  Graeco-Roman  world,  which 
was  to  his  mind  awaiting  the  great  catastrophe, 
has  itself  passed  away;  and  his  letter  would  deal 
with  other  problems  if  he  were  writing  to  Ameri¬ 
cans  in  the  twentieth  century  instead  of  to  ques¬ 
tioners  of  the  first  century  in  Corinth.  Yet  through 
the  temporary  and  local  teaching  shines  a  perma¬ 
nent  and  universal  truth.  To  set  the  details  of 
moral  decision  before  the  judgment-seat  of  a  general 
law;  to  translate  the  duties  of  home,  worship,  and 
toleration  into  the  language  of  Christian  love;  to  rise 
from  technical  instructions  to  “ spiritual  gifts,” — 


THE  LETTERS 


99 


such  is  the  aim  which  dominates  this  impetuous  let¬ 
ter,  and  which  no  change  of  time  or  place  can  render 
archaic  or  outgrown.  As  the  letter  to  the  Galatians 
had  struck  the  note  of  liberty,  so  that  to  the  Cor¬ 
inthians  resounds  with  the  note  of  spirituality. 
The  one  was  prompted  by  the  provincialism  of 
thought  which  prevailed  in  these  communities;  the 
other  by  the  extemalism  of  their  ethics.  One  was  a 
plea  for  cosmopolitanism  in  religion;  the  other  for 
the  spiritualization  of  religion.  The  liberty  which 
had  been  Paul’s  first  desire  for  his  brethren  must 
be  a  liberty  founded  in  love. 

To  this  impression  which  the  first  letter  makes  on 
the  modern  mind  the  second  letter  adds  but  little. 
It  also  is  prompted  by  reports  brought  from  Cor¬ 
inth,  but  these  are  now  of  a  more  cheering  kind. 
Timothy  had  been  sent  as  a  mediator  and  had 
returned,  and  Paul  himself  had  already  been 
a  second  time  to  Corinth,  for  he  says,  “Here  am  I 
all  ready  to  pay  you  my  third  visit.”  1  “This  will 
be  my  third  visit  to  you.”  2  What  he  has  thus 
heard  and  seen  has,  it  appears,  already  drawn  from 
him  another  letter,  no  longer  extant,  but  possibly 
preserved  in  part  at  the  end  of  the  second  existing 
Epistle  (chapters  x-xiii).  It  was  a  letter  so 
severe  in  its  reproaches  that  the  writer  says  of  it, 
“If  I  did  pain  you  by  that  letter,  I  do  not  regret 
it.  ...  For  you  were  pained  as  God  meant  you  to 
be  pained,  and  so  you  got  no  harm  from  what  I 
did.”  3  Finally,  Titus  had  been  despatched  to 
Corinth,  and  had  brought  back  news  so  reassuring 

1 II  Cor.  xii.  14.  2 II  Cor.  xiii.  1.  3 II  Cor.  vii.  8-9. 


100  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

that  Paul  writes,  “But  the  God  who  comforts 
the  dejected  comforted  me  by  the  arrival  of 
Titus.”  1 

All  these  antecedent  events  contribute  to  a  style 
of  writing  which,  even  for  Paul,  is  extraordinarily 
personal  and  colloquial.  The  letter  deals  almost 
exclusively  with  his  own  emotions,  desires,  and  self¬ 
scrutiny.  “Now  I  would  like  you  to  know  about 
the  distress  which  befell  me  in  Asia.”  2  “Am  I 
beginning  again  to  ‘commend’  myself?” 3  “O 
Corinthians,  I  am  keeping  nothing  back  from 
you.  .  .  .  Open  your  hearts  wide  to  me.”  4  “I  aim 
at  being  above  reproach  not  only  from  God  but 
also  from  men.”  5  “I  do  not  boast  beyond  my 
limits.”  6  “No  one  is  to  think  me  a  fool;  but  even 
so,  pray  bear  with  me,  fool  as  I  am.”  7  “But  I 
trust  you  will  find  I  am  no  failure,  and  I  pray  to 
God  that  you  may  not  go  wrong.”  8  Self-abase¬ 
ment  and  self-respect,  discouragement  and  confi¬ 
dence,  anxiety  and  joy,  succeed  each  other  in  this 
vivid  and  undisguised  self-confession;  until  at  last 
he  sums  up  his  claim  to  authority  by  recounting  his 
own  sufferings  for  the  cause.  “But  let  them  vaunt 
as  they  please,  I  am  equal  to  them.”  9  “If  there  is 
to  be  any  boasting,  I  will  boast  of  what  I  am  weak 
enough  to  suffer!”  10  It  is  a  candid  revelation  of 
heroism  and  persistency,  reported  with  complete 
simplicity  but  not  less  complete  self-assurance,  a 

1II  Cor.  vii.  6.  5 II  Cor.  viii.  21.  9 II  Cor.  xi.  21. 

2 II  Cor.  i.  8.  6 II  Cor.  x.  15.  10 II  Cor.  xi.  30. 

3 II  Cor.  iii.  1.  7 II  Cor.  xi.  16. 

4 II  Cor.  vi.  11,  13.  8 II  Cor.  xiii.  6. 


THE  LETTERS 


IOI 


story  perennially  precious  as  the  picture  of  a  self- 
examining  and  self-asserting  life. 

In  all  this  prismatic  record  of  shifting  moods, 
however,  no  new  principle  of  faith  or  conduct  is 
announced.  Searching  phrases  flash  as  they  hurry 
by,  and  striking  paradoxes  arrest  the  reader’s  mind. 
“In  me  then  death  is  active,  in  you  life.”  1  “The 
seen  is  transient,  the  unseen  eternal.”  2  “He  who 
sows  sparingly  will  reap  sparingly.”  3  Yet  these 
universally  applicable  aphorisms,  precious  as  they 
have  become  to  all  readers,  occur  as  incidents  in  the 
discourse,  as  by-products  of  a  letter  whose  aim  is 
the  restoration  of  the  writer’s  authority  and  the 
renewal  of  the  reader’s  confidence.  The  second 
letter  to  the  Corinthians  is  an  almost  unique 
utterance  of  personal  aims  and  hopes,  but  it  is 
only  by  ingenious  methods  of  interpretation  that 
permanent  contributions  to  Christian  truth  can 
be  derived  from  it  by  the  modern  mind. 

The  letter  to  the  Romans  is  more  ambitious  in 
its  purpose,  more  spacious  in  its  reasoning,  and 
in  many  aspects  much  more  difficult  to  under¬ 
stand.  In  reach  of  argument,  range  of  vision,  and, 
more  than  all,  in  its  extraordinary  fusion  of  feeling 
and  thought,  of  heat  and  light,  it  has  been  generally 
accepted  as  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of 
human  genius.4  It  has  been  suggested  by  Canon 

1 II  Cor.  iv.  12.  2 II  Cor.  iv.  18.  3 II  Cor.  ix.  6. 

4  CL  Godet,  “Commentary  on  St.  Paul’s  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,”  tr.  1880,  p.  1.  “Coleridge  calls  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  ‘the  profoundest  book  in  existence.’  Chrysostom  had  it 
read  to  him  twice  a  week.  Luther,  in  his  famous  preface,  says: 


102  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


Farrar  that  Paul’s  audience  was  so  far  below  the 
intellectual  level  of  Roman  learning  that  the 
thought  of  “receiving  the  lessons  of  a  poor,  accused 
and  wandering  Jew”  would  have  made  Seneca 
“stand  aghast;”  that  Paul’s  correspondents  were 
in  the  “very  depths  of  poverty;”1  that  Greek 
hearers  “mocked  and  jeered;”  and  that  Festus, 
Felix,  and  Seneca’s  brother  Gallio  “took  no 
notice.” 2  This  estimate  of  Paul’s  readers  is, 
however,  difficult  to  maintain  in  the  case  of  his 
letter  to  the  Romans.  Such  a  letter  must,  it  would 
seem,  have  been  addressed  to  those  who  could  ap¬ 
preciate,  even  if  they  could  not  wholly  understand, 
a  complex  and  subtle  argument.  The  writer  feels 
no  restraint  in  rising  to  heights  of  reasoning  where 
scholars  ever  since  have  found  it  hard  to  follow. 
The  letter  to  the  Romans  was  obviously  written 
by  a  scholar  for  the  sake  of  readers  who,  even  if 
not  themselves  scholars,  could  welcome  refined 
discriminations  and  daring  flights  of  thought. 

‘This  Epistle  is  the  chief  book  of  the  New  Testament,  the 
purest  Gospel.’  .  .  .  Melanchthon  copied  it  twice  with  his  own 
hand.  .  .  .  The  Reformation  was  undoubtedly  the  work  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  as  well  as  of  that  to  the  Galatians;  and 
the  probability  is  that  every  great  spiritual  revival  in  the  Church 
will  be  connected  as  effect  and  cause  with  a  deeper  understanding 
of  this  book.” 

1F.  W.  Farrar,  “Seekers  after  God,”  1888,  p.  171;  citing  II 
Cor.  viii.  2  and  Acts  xvii.  32,  where  “the  word  expresses  the  most 
profound  and  unconcealed  contempt.” 

2  Acts  xviii.  17.  Cf.  Gummere,  “Seneca  as  Philosopher,”  1922, 
p.  70.  “The  authorized  translation  does  the  Roman  injustice. 
The  passage  really  means:  Gallio  felt  that  the  accusation  was  not 
in  his  jurisdiction  to  handle.” 


THE  LETTERS 


103 


Yet  this  classic  document  does  not  in  its  main 
intention  differ  greatly  from  the  earlier  letters 
of  Paul.  The  same  problem  that  had  met  him, 
both  in  Galatia  and  in  Corinth,  of  adjusting  a 
Jewish  faith  to  a  Greek  environment,  again  con¬ 
fronts  him  in  larger  terms  and  under  more  com¬ 
plex  conditions.  The  letter  to  the  Romans  has 
been  justly  said  in  this  respect  to  “stand  midway 
between  Corinthians  and  Galatians.”  The  first 
of  these  preceding  letters  had  addressed  “a  Greek- 
thinking  population;”  the  second,  a  community 
where  the  “stiff  Judaistic  Christianity  of  Jeru¬ 
salem”  opposed  the  “liberal  Christianity  supported 
by  Paul.”  “Romans,  as  compared  with  the  other 
Epistles,  has  more  of  the  Greek  element  than 
Galatians,  and  more  of  the  Judaic  element  than 
Corinthians.”  1  In  other  words,  the  aim  of  this 
elaborate  discourse  is  to  meet  both  these  forms  of 
dissent,  and  to  harmonize,  both  historically  and 
philosophically,  the  Palestinian  and  the  Hellenistic 
tendencies.  If  the  purpose  of  the  letter  to  the 
Galatians  was  to  liberalize  the  new  faith,  and 
that  of  the  letter  to  the  Corinthians  to  spiritualize 
it,  then,  under  the  same  loose  definition,  the  letter 
to  the  Romans  gives  the  impression  of  being 
written  to  systematize  the  instruction  already 
delivered.  Subtle  distinctions,  far-reaching  gen¬ 
eralizations,  and  practical  admonitions  abound 
throughout  this  masterpiece  of  reasoning,  swelling 
the  volume  of  its  thought;  but  the  movement  of 
the  whole  is  toward  a  systematic  harmonization 
1  Lake,  “The  Earlier  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,”  p.  379. 


104  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

of  conflicting  tendencies,  as  though  two  rivers 
with  opposing  currents  met  and  were  at  last  merged 
in  a  larger  stream. 

To  accomplish  this  ministry  of  reconciliation  in 
the  community  at  Rome,  Paul  turns  first  to  the 
conservatives  and  then  to  the  liberals,  with  his 
argument  that  the  Gospel  has  “saving  power  for 
every  one  who  has  faith,  for  the  Jew  first  and  for 
the  Greek  as  well,”  1  and  that  the  same  Gospel 
will  not  less  certainly  bring  “anguish  and  calamity 
for  every  human  soul  that  perpetrates  evil,  for 
the  Jew  first  and  for  the  Greek  as  well.”  2  To  the 
Judaizers  he  points  out  the  inner  meaning  of  their 
own  law.  “He  is  no  Jew  who  is  merely  a  Jew  out¬ 
wardly,  nor  is  circumcision  something  outward 
in  the  flesh.”  3  “Is  God  only  the  God  of  Jews? 
Is  he  not  the  God  of  the  Gentiles  as  well?  Surely, 
he  is.”  4  “For  Abraham  .  .  .  became  the  father 
of  many  nations.”  5  Yet  the  law  was  not  without 
its  effect.  “Why,  had  it  not  been  for  the  law, 
I  would  never  have  known  what  sin  meant!  ”6 
The  law,  however,  even  when  thus  given  its  place, 
leaves  one  in  an  irreconcilable  conflict  from  which 
the  new  faith  sets  one  free.  “I  serve  the  law  of 
God  with  my  mind,  but  with  my  flesh  I  serve  the 
law  of  sin.  .  .  .  Who  will  rescue  me  from  this 
body  of  death?  God  will!  Thanks  be  to  him 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord!”7  Thus,  the 
“law  of  the  Spirit  brings  the  life  which  is  in  Christ 

1  Rom.  i.  16.  4  Rom.  iii.  29.  6  Rom.  vii.  7. 

2  Rom.  ii.  9.  5  Rom.  iv.  18.  7  Rom.  vii.  24,  25. 

3  Rom.  ii.  28. 


THE  LETTERS  I05 

Jesus,  and  that  law  has  set  me  free  from  the  law 
of  sin  and  death.”  1 

Having  thus  recalled  the  Judaizers  from  con¬ 
formity  to  a  ritual  law  to  the  authority  of  a  spiritual 
faith,  Paul  turns  to  the  more  difficult  task  of 
grafting  Greek  liberalism  on  this  Hebrew  stock; 
and  for  this  purpose  he  utilizes,  by  every  device  of 
analogy  and  allegory,  the  evidence  of  the  Old 
Testament  itself  to  endorse  his  cosmopolitan 
Christianity.  Abraham,  Isaac,  Rebecca,  Moses, 
Pharaoh,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  the  Book  of  Psalms, — 
all  are  cited  in  turn  to  illustrate  “the  wealth  that 
lies  in  his  glory  for  the  objects  of  his  mercy  .  .  . 
whom  he  has  called  from  among  the  Gentiles  as 
well  as  the  Jews.”  2  Passage  after  passage  from 
the  ancient  law  is  interpreted  as  teaching  this 
spiritual  inclusiveness.  “Israel  has  failed  to  se¬ 
cure  the  object  of  its  quest,”  3  “and  David  says, 
‘Let  their  table  prove  a  snare  and  a  trap,  a  pitfall 
and  a  retribution  for  them.’”4  “By  their  lapse 
salvation  has  passed  to  the  Gentiles.”  5  Yet  the 
Gentiles  too  should  not  boast  of  this  participation 
in  the  new  faith.  They  are  like  a  shoot  of  wild 
olive  grafted  on  an  ancient  tree,  and  should  remem¬ 
ber  that  the  stem  bears  them,  not  they  the  stem. 
“It  is  only  a  partial  insensibility  that  has  come 
over  Israel,  until  the  full  number  of  the  Gentiles 
come  in.  This  done,  all  Israel  will  be  saved.”  6 
By  such  arguments,  unconvincing  as  they  may  be 

1  Rom.  viii.  2.  4  Rom.  xi.  9  (quoting  Psalm  lxix.  22). 

2  Rom.  ix.  23,  24.  6  Rom.  xi.  11. 

3  Rom.  xi.  7.  6  Rom.  xi.  25,  26. 


106  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


to-day,  but  conclusive  to  Paul’s  audience,  he  is 
led  to  confirm  this  sublime  declaration,  which  is 
as  significant  for  the  modern  as  for  the  ancient 
world,  “  There  is  no  distinction  of  Jew  and  Greek, 
the  same  Lord  is  Lord  of  them  all,  with  ample 
for  all  who  invoke  him.”  1 
Thus,  with  consummate  skill,  yet  with  genuine 
conviction,  the  apostle  holds  the  middle  path  of 
reconciliation,  and  Paul,  the  Jew,  appeals  to  the 
Jewish  law  to  confirm  a  faith  which  has  outgrown 
that  law.  What  in  the  other  letters  wras  exhorta¬ 
tion  has  now  become  demonstration.  The  Hel¬ 
lenists  are  to  be  welcomed  to  a  legitimate  inherit¬ 
ance;  the  Jews  to  be  led  to  Christ  through  their 
own  law.  There  had  been,  in  short,  a  twofold 
Prceparatio  Evangelica, — the  preparation  for  a 
liberalized  Israel,  and  the  preparation  for  a  spirit¬ 
ualized  world.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures  were 
prophetic  of  the  larger  faith.  With  the  finest 
rhetorical  strategy,  the  apostle  concludes  his 
argument,  not  with  any  comments  of  his  own, 
but  in  the  language  of  Job,  with  which  every 
devout  Jew  was  familiar:  “What  a  fathomless 
wealth  lies  in  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God! 
How  inscrutable  his  judgments!  How  mysterious 
his  methods!  Whoever  understood  the  thoughts 
of  the  Lord?  Who  has  ever  been  his  counsellor? 
Who  has  first  given  to  him  and  has  to  be  repaid?  ”  2 
From  this  main  thesis  of  his  letter  Paul  proceeds, 
as  in  his  earlier  writings,  to  enumerate  many  prac- 

1  Rom.  x.  12. 

2  Rom.  xi.  33-35;  Job  xv.  8;  xxxvi.  22;  xxxv.  7. 


THE  LETTERS 


107 


tical  consequences  of  this  comprehensive  faith, 
and  to  add  those  personal  greetings  with  which  his 
letters  habitually  close.  To  many  readers,  this 
ethical  appendix  (chapters  xii-xv)  is  not  only  in¬ 
trinsically  precious,  but  permits  a  certain  sense 
of  relief,  after  the  subtle  and  elaborate  reasoning 
which  precedes.  These  intimate  counsels  and 
candid  warnings  are  in  the  main  verifiable  under 
any  circumstances  and  in  any  age.  They  leave  one 
at  the  close  of  the  letter  with  an  impression  of 
serenity  and  wisdom,  as  though  the  tortuous 
windings  and  bewildering  eddies  of  the  teacher’s 
thought  had  at  last  given  place  to  a  gentler  flow 
among  broadening  fields  and  familiar  scenes. 
Self-importance  and  self-seeking  are  rebuked,  for¬ 
giveness  and  sympathy  are  urged,  in  aphorisms  that 
have  become  moral  maxims  for  the  Christian 
world:  “I  tell  everyone  of  your  number  .  .  . 
that  he  is  not  to  think  more  of  himself  than  he 
ought  to  think.”  1  “Let  your  love  be  a  real 
thing.”  2  “ Never  pay  back  evil  for  evil.”  3  “Get 
the  better  of  evil  by  doing  good.”  4  Submission 
to  magistrates,  freedom  from  debt,  tolerance  of 
different  views  about  food  and  “a  particular 
day,”  restraint  in  criticism  and  sympathy  for  the 
reactionary,  are  taught  with  firm  authority;  and 
the  law  of  conduct  which  includes  them  all  is 
announced:  “We  who  are  strong  ought  to  bear 
the  burdens  that  the  weak  make  for  themselves 
and  us.”  5  Finally,  Paul’s  own  plans  for  further 

1Rom.  xii.  3.  3  Rom.  xii.  17.  6  Rom.  xv.  1. 

2  Rom.  xii.  9.  4  Rom.  xii.  21. 


108  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


journeyings  are  disclosed  in  the  brave  assurance: 
“Well,  once  I  finish  this  business  ...  I  will 
start  for  Spain  and  take  you  on  the  way/’ 1  and  the 
letter  closes  with  a  long  series  of  salutations  to 
not  less  than  twenty-six  “ choice  Christians”  in 
Rome,  “and  all  the  saints  in  their  company,” 
and  with  corresponding  messages,  not  only  from 
himself,  but  from  eight  of  his  “  fellow-workers,” 
with  whom  even  Paul’s  amanuensis  includes  him¬ 
self, — “I  Tertius,  who  write  the  letter,  salute  you 
in  the  Lord.”  2  It  is  as  though  the  river  of  Paul’s 
affection  had  at  last  overflowed  its  narrow  banks 
of  argument,  and  swept  a  flood  of  greetings  into 
every  corner  of  the  Roman  world  which  held  his 
“beloved  in  the  Lord.”  3 

When  one  passes  from  these  four  letters  which 
comprise  the  main  body  of  Paul’s  teaching  to  the 
Letters  of  the  Imprisonment  (Philippians,  Colos- 
sians,  Ephesians  and  Philemon),  and  reads  them 
also  in  rapid  succession,  detaching  one’s  self  from 
incidental  arguments  and  observing  the  main 
drift  of  the  whole,  one  is  almost  startled  by  the 
new  note  which  is  heard,  and  the  concentration  of 
the  writer’s  mind  on  a  single  idea.  The  transition 

1  Rom.  xv.  28. 

2  Rom.  xvi.  13,  16,  22. 

3  Many  scholars  maintain  that  Rom.  xvi.  was  not  originally  a 
part  of  the  letter,  but  represents  a  note  sent  to  Ephesus.  So  Lake, 
“Earlier  Epistles,”  1911,  pp.  325  ff.:  “The  fact  always  remains 
that  Rom.  xvi.  1-23  is  an  integral  part  of  all  MSS.  of  the  Epistle 
which  we  now  possess.  This  is  not  everything,  but  it  is  a  great 
deal.  .  .  .  Still  there  seems  to  me  to  be  a  distinct  balance  of 
argument  in  favour  of  Ephesus.” 


THE  LETTERS 


109 


is  so  marked  that  some  critics  have  been  led  to 
deny  the  authenticity  of  these  later  writings,  and 
to  affirm  that  both  in  idea  and  in  phrase  they 
represent  a  later  age  than  that  of  Paul.  Change 
in  emphasis,  however,  and  increasing  preoccupa¬ 
tion  with  one  great  thought  do  not  in  themselves 
preclude  identity  of  authorship.  Consistency  is 
the  last  of  virtues  that  Paul  would  claim.  Through¬ 
out  his  career  his  mind  was  extraordinarily  flexible, 
impressionable  and  receptive,  and  each  new  experi¬ 
ence  enriched  his  teaching  with  new  suggestions. 
At  last  he  was  in  Rome  itself,  a  prisoner,  with 
leisure  for  meditation,  and  with  his  earlier  ag¬ 
gressiveness  of  mind  tempered  both  by  hard  ex¬ 
perience  and  by  the  tender  ministrations  of  new 
friends.  In  two  of  these  letters  from  Rome,  it  is 
evident  that  he  is  addressing  communities  which 
he  has  never  visited;  for  in  writing  to  the  Colos- 
sians  he  says,  “I  want  you  to  understand  my  deep 
concern  for  you  and  for  those  at  Laodicea,  for 
all  who  have  never  seen  my  face;  ”  1  and  the  letter 
now  entitled  “To  the  Ephesians”  is  in  the  earliest 
manuscripts  addressed  to  “The  saints  who  are 
faithful,”  2  and  adds,  “I  have  heard  of  your  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus,”  3  a  phrase  which  Paul  would 
seem  unlikely  to  use  of  a  city  where  he  had  lived 
for  years.  Indeed,  it  seems  not  improbable  that 
this  letter  may  be  that  of  which  he  writes  to  the 
Colossians,  “And  when  this  letter  has  been  read 
to  you,  see  that  it  is  also  read  in  the  church  of  the 
Laodiceans;  also,  see  that  you  read  the  letter  that 
1  Col.  ii.  1.  2  Eph.  i.  1.  3  Eph.  i.  15. 


IIO  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


reaches  you  from  Laodicea.”  1  It  should  not  sur¬ 
prise  one,  therefore,  if  in  such  a  correspondence, 
maintained  in  his  last  days  with  brethren  whom  he 
knew  only  from  afar,  the  controversies  which 
prompted  his  earlier  letters  no  longer  appear  criti¬ 
cal,  and  if  in  the  greater  calmness  of  his  seclusion, 
the  mood  of  mysticism,  which  had  always  strug¬ 
gled  to  express  itself,  takes  complete  possession 
of  his  mind,  and  utters  itself  in  spiritual  rhapsody 
and  lyrical  prayer. 

Of  the  three  letters,  that  to  the  Philippians  is 
the  most  intimate  and  affectionate.  Messages 
concerning  contributions  had  already  passed  be¬ 
tween  the  prisoner  at  Rome  and  the  brethren  at 
Philippi.  Indeed,  it  appears  that  this  community 
had  been  the  first  to  feel  the  responsibility  of  send¬ 
ing  aid.  “In  the  early  days  of  the  Gospel,  when  I 
had  left  Macedonia,  no  church  but  yourselves  had 
any  financial  dealings  with  me;  even  when  I  was 
at  Thessalonica,  you  sent  money  more  than  once 
for  my  needs.”  2  It  was  planned  that  special 
messengers  should  be  despatched  to  renew  this 
affectionate  intimacy.  Paul’s  “fellow-soldier” 
Epaphroditus,3  as  well  as  Timothy,4  “like  a  son 
helping  his  father,”  5  were  to  visit  the  Philippians, 
so  that,  as  Paul  writes,  “I  may  be  heartened  by 
news  of  you,”  6  and  “you  may  be  glad  when  you 
see  him  again.”  7  At  the  close  of  the  letter,  how¬ 
ever,  we  are  surprised  to  learn  that  the  gifts  which 

1  Col.  iv.  16.  4  Phil.  ii.  ig.  6  Phil.  ii.  19. 

2  Phil.  iv.  15-16.  5  Phil.  ii.  22.  7  Phil.  ii.  28. 

3  Phil.  ii.  25. 


THE  LETTERS 


III 


Epaphroditus  was  to  bring  have  already  arrived, — 
“I  am  amply  supplied  with  what  you  have  sent  by 
Epaphroditus.”  1  Either,  therefore,  we  have  here 
a  composite  document,  comprising  one  letter 
written  before  the  messenger  departed  and  an¬ 
other  after  he  returned,  or,  as  may  not  be  less 
likely,  we  have  a  characteristic  Pauline  postscript, 
in  which  that  which  was  first  written  of  as  a  hope 
is  at  the  close  supplemented  by  news  of  fulfillment. 

Within  this  frame  of  a  practical  demand,  the 
picture  of  Paul  the  aged  is  vividly  painted  in  his 
own  words.  The  scars  of  earlier  controversies  are 
still  visible.  “Beware,”  he  says,  “of  these  dogs, 
these  wicked  workmen,  the  incision-party!  We 
are  the  true  Circumcision,  we  who  worship  God  in 
spirit.” 2  Solitary  meditation  has,  however,  at 
last  detached  his  mind  from  these  divisive  prob¬ 
lems,  and  indeed  from  contemplation  of  the  histor¬ 
ical  Jesus,  or  enforcement  of  the  teaching  of  the 
Gospels.  From  all  these  contemporary  or  personal 
concerns,  Paul  now  turns  to  the  portrayal  of  a 
cosmic  drama,  in  which  a  celestial  Christ,  the  most 
exalted  of  God’s  angelic  attendants,  who  might 
have  even  “snatched  at  equality”  with  God,  in 
sublime  self-renunciation,  “taking  the  nature  of  a 
servant,  .  .  .  stooped  in  his  obedience  even  to 
die,  and  to  die  upon  the  cross.  Therefore  God 
raised  him  high  and  conferred  on  him  a  Name 
above  all  names,  so  that  before  the  Name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bend  in  heaven,  on  earth,  and 
underneath  the  earth,  and  every  tongue  confess 
1  Phil.  iv.  18.  2  Phil.  iii.  2-3. 


II 2  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


that  ‘ Jesus  Christ  is  Lord’  to  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father.”  1  The  cosmogony  of  the  mystery-reli¬ 
gions  has  seized  upon  his  eager  mind,  and  recalls 
to  him  a  verse  from  the  Book  of  Isaiah  where 
Jehovah’s  “word  is  gone  out  .  .  .  that  unto  me 
every  knee  shall  bow,  every  tongue  shall  swear.”  2 
Swept  on  by  these  analogies  and  prophecies,  Paul 
breaks  into  a  mystic  strain,  and  the  person  and 
work  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  are  sublimated  into  the 
conception  of  a  preexistent  being,  descending  in 
the  humble  form  of  man  and  raised  again  to  glory. 

Yet  it  is  not  less  noticeable  that  this  Christologi- 
cal  rhapsody  is  but  a  thrilling  interlude  in  a  letter 
pitched  for  the  most  part  in  a  lower  key.  No 
sooner  is  this  burst  of  mystic  praise  uttered  than 
the  tide  of  Paul’s  feeling  ebbs  as  it  has  risen,  and 
messages  of  friendly  affection  and  pastoral  counsel 
follow,  as  though  the  great  surge  of  emotion  had 
passed.  “Therefore,  my  beloved,  as  you  have 
been  obedient  always  and  not  simply  when  I  was 
present,  so,  now  that  I  am  absent,  work  all  the 
more  strenuously  at  your  salvation  with  reverence 
and  trembling.” 3  “So  then,  my  brothers,  for 
whom  I  cherish  love  and  longing,  my  joy  and 
crown,  this  is  how  you  must  stand  firm  in  the 
Lord,  0  my  beloved.” 4  However  significant 
may  be  the  sublime  conception  of  the  humiliation 
and  exaltation  of  Christ,  the  letter  is  in  its  main 
intention  not  chiefly  Christological  or  controversial, 
but  a  message  of  affection,  joy,  thanksgiving, 

1  Phil.  ii.  6-i  i.  3  Phil.  ii.  12. 

2  Is.  xlv.  23.  4  Phil.  iv.  1. 


THE  LETTERS 


1 13 

pride,  and  love.  The  hostilities  and  hardships  of 
many  years  have  released  their  hold,  and  a  sense 
of  the  unity  of  spirit  which  makes  one  “  colony  of 
heaven”  1  moves  the  apostle  to  “ rejoice  in  the 
Lord,”  2  and  to  feel  “  God’s  peace  that  surpasses 
all  our  dreams.”  3 

The  letters  to  the  Colossians  and  the  Ephesians 
may  be  considered  together,  for  they  have  the 
same  plan,  use  in  large  part  the  same  language, 
and  reflect  the  same  external  circumstances. 
Rome,  at  the  time  of  Paul’s  imprisonment,  had 
become  a  storm-centre  of  philosophical  and  religious 
speculation.  The  mystery-religions,  Greek  and 
Oriental,  had  brought  thither  their  various  doc¬ 
trines  of  redemption,  teaching  the  descent  of  a  god 
in  human  form  to  save  mankind.  Greek  philosophy 
had  reached  a  sublimated  doctrine  of  incarnation 
in  its  conception  of  a  Divine  Reason,  or  “  Logos,” 
as  the  agent  of  the  Eternal.  Jewish  tradition  had 
peopled  the  spiritual  world  with  angelic  presences, 
good  and  evil,  contending  with  each  other  as 
powers  of  the  air.  In  the  heated  atmosphere  of 
these  cosmic  speculations  Paul’s  last  years  were 
passed,  and  with  his  immense  capacity  for  sym¬ 
pathy  and  interpretation  he  conceived  that  the 
essential  truth  of  all  these  teachings  was  triumph¬ 
antly  expressed  in  the  dying  and  the  risen  Christ. 
“The  Apostolic  tradition,  the  primitive  Gentile 
Christian  apprehension  of  the  Gospel,  the  Judaism 
in  which  he  was  brought  up,  and  the  redemptive  re¬ 
ligions  of  the  time  and  region  in  which  he  preached 
1  Phil.  iii.  20.  2  Phil.  iii.  1.  3  Phil.  iv.  7. 


( 


1 14  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

the  mystery  of  salvation  through  Christ,  all  passed 
through  the  alembic  of  a  singular  personal  expe¬ 
rience. 1  In  Christ  was  the  disclosure  of  those 
esoteric  truths  which  had  been  hidden  in  the 
mystery-religions — the  “open  secret  of  God,” 2 
“the  open  secret  of  his  will.”  3  In  Christ,  not  less, 
was  the  manifestation  of  that  preexistent  Reason 
to  which,  according  to  Greek  philosophy,  God  had 
committed  his  redemptive  work.  “It  was  by  him 
that  all  things  were  created.” 4  “  He  is  prior  to  all, 
and  all  coheres  in  him,”  5  “in  terms  of  the  eternal 
purpose  which  he  has  realized  in  Christ  Jesus  the 
Lord.”  6  In  Christ,  finally,  was  the  end  of  that 
strife  of  angels  which  to  devout  Jews  made  the 
universe  a  scene  of  spiritual  war.  “Let  no  one 
lay  down  rules  for  you  .  .  .  with  regard  to  fasting 
and  the  cult  of  angels  .  .  .  ,  instead  of  keeping  in 
touch  with  that  Head  under  whom  the  entire 
Body  .  .  .  grows  with  growth  divine.”  7  “It  is  in 
Christ  that  the  entire  Fulness  of  deity  has  settled 
bodily;  ...  he  is  the  Head  of  every  angelic  Ruler 
and  Power.”  8  The  clashing  discords  of  Hebrew 
angelology  had  been  at  last  harmonized  in  Christ, 
and  the  saviour-god  of  Hellenic  speculation  is  now 
discovered  to  be  none  else  than  Christ.  Sages  from 
the  Orient  had  brought  to  Rome  their  mysteries; 
but  in  Christ  the  mystery-drama  of  redemption 
had  been  historically  enacted  on  a  Palestinian 

1  G.  F.  Moore,  “History  of  Religions,”  1919,  II.  136. 

2  Col.  ii.  2.  5  Col.  i.  17.  7  Col.  ii.  18-19. 

3  Eph.  i.  9.  6  Eph.  iii.  11.  8  Col.  ii.  9-10. 

4  Col.  i.  16. 


THE  LETTERS 


115 

stage.  All  that  vagrant  mystics  and  scholastic 
metaphysicians  were  offering  in  Rome  as  wares  to 
attract  the  thoughtful  became  appropriated  by  the 
receptive  mind  of  Paul,  and  converted  into  its 
Christian  equivalent.  Was  any  inquirer  tempted 
by  a  mystery-religion?  Here  was  the  “ profound 
symbol  ...  as  regards  Christ  and  the  church.” 1 
Did  any  one  welcome  the  doctrine  of  an  interme¬ 
diary  divinity?  In  Christ  was  “the  likeness  of  the 
unseen  God,  born  first  before  all  the  creation.”  2 
Was  any  Jew  perturbed  by  the  thought  of  malicious 
angels  assaulting  his  soul?  Here  was  a  power  which 
was  “  rescuing  us  from  the  power  of  the  Darkness, 
and  transferring  us  to  the  realm  of  his  beloved 
Son!” 3 

Such  was  the  flood  of  mystical  assurance  which, 
at  the  last,  swept  over  the  mind  of  Paul.  Neither 
of  these  later  letters  concerns  itself  seriously  with 
the  Jesus  of  the  Palestinian  Gospels.  In  both 
the  faith  of  a  Christian  turns  to  a  Being  whose 
influence  did  not  begin  until  the  temporary  obscura¬ 
tion  of  his  humanity  had  been  removed.  This 
Being  was,  indeed,  not  God  Himself,  but  an  emana¬ 
tion  from  the  Deity,  an  instrument  of  God’s  pur¬ 
pose,  a  messenger  of  God’s  love, — one  of  many 
beneficent  angels,  but  the  greatest  and  the  nearest 
to  God.  The  purpose  of  the  apostle  has  become, 
as  he  says,  “that  I  should  bring  the  Gentiles  the 
gospel  of  the  fathomless  wealth  of  Christ  and  en¬ 
lighten  all  men  upon  the  new  order  of  that  divine 
secret  which  God  the  Creator  of  all  concealed  from 

2  Col.  i.  15.  3  Col.  i.  13. 


1  Eph.  v.  32. 


Il6  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


eternity — intending  to  let  the  full  sweep  of  the 
divine  wisdom  be  disclosed  now  by  the  church  to 
the  angelic  Rulers  and  Authorities  in  the  heavenly 
sphere,  in  terms  of  the  eternal  purpose  which  he  has 
realized  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  through  whom, 
as  we  have  faith  in  him,  we  enjoy  our  confidence  of 
free  access.”  1 

It  is  not  essential  to  follow  this  lyrical  mysticism 
into  its  details,  and  there  are  many  aspects  of  it  so 
obscure  in  themselves,  or  so  intimately  related  with 
other  obscure  or  esoteric  teachings,  that  none  but 
the  most  erudite  scholars  can  estimate  their  signifi¬ 
cance.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  explain  to  one’s  self 
completely  this  impressive  transition  in  Paul’s 
thought.  To  some  minds  it  may  appear,  not  a  con¬ 
version  of  Greek  and  Oriental  speculations  to  the 
cause  of  Christ,  but  a  surrender  of  that  cause  to 
these  external  influences;  so  that  mystical  ortho¬ 
doxy,  which  finds  its  chief  support  in  these  later 
letters  of  Paul,  may  be  perpetuating,  not  so  much 
Christian,  as  extra- Christian  or  pre-Christian 
ideals.  To  other  minds,  as  has  already  been  noted, 
the  change  of  emphasis  is  explicable  by  nothing  less 
than  a  change  of  author.  To  still  other  readers — 
and  perhaps  with  more  justification — the  new  note 
of  mystical  enthusiasm  is  but  an  added  evidence 
of  the  susceptibility  and  flexibility  of  Paul’s  intel¬ 
lectual  life,  careless  of  consistency,  assimilating 
suggestions  from  every  side,  and  passing  at  last 
from  the  aggressive  self-confidence  of  missionary 
activity  to  the  contemplative  joys  of  mystical 

1  Eph.  iii.  8-12. 


THE  LETTERS 


117 

communion.  The  mysticism  of  Paul  is,  it  is  true, 
not  wholly  a  late  arrival  in  his  nature.  Through¬ 
out  his  earlier  letters  and  among  many  external 
controversies  this  sense  of  direct  communion 
struggles  to  express  itself.  “We  discuss  that 
hidden  wisdom  which  God  decreed  from  all  eter¬ 
nity  for  our  glory.”  1  “  What  no  eye  has  ever  seen, 
what  no  ear  has  ever  heard.  .  .  .  God  has  prepared 
all  that  for  those  who  love  him.”  2  This  mood, 
which  was  at  first  occasional,  comes  at  last  to 
dominate  his  thought,  and  to  give  wings  to  his 
letters.  As  John  Locke  has  observed  of  the  letter 
to  the  Ephesians,  Paul  writes,  “not  in  the  ordinary 
way  of  argumentation  and  formal  reasoning,”  but 
“all  as  it  were  in  a  rapture,  and  in  a  style  far  above 
the  plain,  didactical  way;  he  pretends  not  to  teach 
them  anything,  but  couches  all,  that  he  would  drop 
into  their  minds,  in  thanksgiving  and  prayers, 
which  affording  a  greater  liberty  and  flight  to  his 
thoughts,  he  gives  utterance  to  them  in  noble  and 
sublime  expressions,  suitable  to  the  unsearchable 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  God.”  3  If  this  is  the 
general  character  of  these  lyrical  letters,  it  is 
certainly  one  of  the  strangest  incidents  of  history 
that  these  mystical  utterances  and  emotional 
raptures  should  have  been  chosen  from  all  the 
writings  of  Paul  to  be  made  the  foundation-stones 
of  a  system  of  theology,  and  that  a  complete  plan 
of  human  redemption  should  be  based  on  the 
evidence  of  a  single  verse.4 

1 1  Cor.  ii.  7. 

2 1  Cor.  ii.  9. 


3  “Works,”  VIII.  p.  392. 

4  Phil.  ii.  7. 


Il8  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

From  these  spiritual  flights  Paul  descends,  in  the 
letter  to  the  Ephesians  as  in  that  to  the  Colossians, 
to  enumerate  various  practical  precepts.  Conduct, 
as  seen  by  him,  was  environed  by  angelic  witnesses 
and  threatened  by  evil  forces.  “For  we  have  to 
struggle,  not  with  blood  and  flesh  but  with  the 
angelic  Rulers,  the  angelic  Authorities,  the  poten¬ 
tates  of  the  dark  present,  the  spirit-forces  of  evil 
in  the  heavenly  sphere.”  1  Morality,  therefore,  is 
to  be  steadied  and  chastened  by  a  sense  of  the 
cosmic  primacy  of  Christ,  wThich  binds  individuals 
and  communities  into  an  organic  life.  “For  he, 
Christ,  is  the  head,  and  under  him,  as  the  entire 
Body  is  welded  together  and  compacted  by  every 
joint  wTith  which  it  is  supplied,  the  due  activity  of 
each  part  enables  the  Body  to  grow  and  build  itself 
up  in  love.”  2  Yet  neither  Hebrew  mythology  nor 
Greek  cosmology  can  overcome  Paul’s  practical 
sagacity  or  ethical  aim.  These  letters  are  as  re¬ 
markable  for  the  common  sense  with  which  they  end 
as  for  the  mystical  illumination  with  which  they  be¬ 
gin.  “Love, ’’declares  the  letter  to  the  Colossians,  “is 
the  link  of  the  perfect  life.”  3  “Whatever  be  your 
task,  work  at  it  heartily.”  4  “Let  your  talk  always 
have  a  saving  salt  of  grace  about  it.” 5  “Be  clothed 
with  compassion,  kindliness,  humility,  gentleness, 
and  good  temper.”  6  In  the  same  strain  the  letter 
to  the  Ephesians  ends:  “I  beg  of  you  to  live  a  life 
worthy  of  your  calling,  with  perfect  modesty  and 


1  Eph.  vi.  i2. 

2  Eph.  iv.  16. 

3  Col.  iii.  14. 


4  Col.  iii.  23. 
6  Col.  iv.  6. 

6  Col.  iii.  12. 


THE  LETTERS 


1 19 

gentleness,  showing  forbearance  to  one  another 
patiently,  zealous  in  love.”  1 

Thus  these  glowing  Epistles  become  a  fitting 
climax  to  what  has  preceded  them.  As  it  was  the 
purpose  of  Paul’s  earlier  letters  to  liberalize  the 
Christian  faith,  and  of  the  second  group  to  spirit¬ 
ualize  it,  and  of  the  more  formal  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  to  systematize  it,  so  in  the  meditations  and 
revelations  of  Paul’s  last  phase  he  is  absorbed  in 
the  idealizing  of  history,  the  lifting  of  its  prose  into 
poetry,  the  setting  of  its  facts  within  a  cosmic 
plan.  The  first  intention  of  Paul  was  to  rescue  the 
new  faith  from  Palestinian  asphyxiation  and  to  give 
it  a  chance  to  breathe  in  the  free  air  of  a  Greek 
world;  his  second  aim  was  the  emancipation  of 
that  faith  from  ceremonial  and  ritual  and  to  secure 
for  it  the  authority  of  the  spirit;  his  third  desire 
was  to  justify  that  faith  by  logical  reasoning  and 
to  rationalize  the  convictions  which  he  had  attained. 
Finally,  he  ascends  from  these  plains  of  debate 
and  demonstration  into  the  serener  air  of  contem¬ 
plation  and  vision,  as  the  first  disciples  went  up 
with  their  Master  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration, 
and  saw  there  a  glory  which  was  invisible  below. 
In  this  final  mood,  there  is  no  further  need  to  recall 
the  human  Teacher  of  Galilee.  Indeed,  the  human 
life  of  Jesus  is  now  viewed  as  the  temporal  habita¬ 
tion  of  a  Divine  Being,  descending  for  a  time 
from  heaven.  His  physical  form  was  but  an  “  ap¬ 
pearing  in  human  form,”  and  “taking  the  nature 
of  a  servant.” 2  The  cosmological  idealism  of 
1  Eph.  iv.  1,2.  2  Phil.  ii.  8,  7. 


120  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Paul  thus  becomes  a  premonition  of  Gnosticism 
and  an  encouragement  of  Docetism.  It  looks, 
not  backward  to  the  synoptic  Gospels  with  their 
practical  ethics,  “  Everyone  who  listens  to  these 
words  of  mine  and  acts  upon  them  will  be  like 
a  sensible  man  who  built  his  house  on  rock,”  1 
but  forward  to  the  Fourth  Gospel  with  its  philos¬ 
ophy  of  history:  “The  Logos  became  flesh  and 
tarried  among  us.”  2  Galilee  and  Jerusalem,  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  parables,  have 
become  indistinguishable  points  in  the  landscape 
of  faith,  as  Paul  rises  above  them  among  the  clouds 
of  spiritual  communion. 

There  remain  but  a  few  brief  evidences  of  Paul’s 
last  moods  and  thoughts.  The  letters  to  Titus  and 
Timothy,  even  if  regarded  as  authentic,  would  add 
little  of  significance,  except  the  touching  apologia 
pro  vita  sua  with  which  one  letter  concludes,  and 
which  leaves  the  apostle  facing  death  with  the 
composure  of  a  good  conscience  and  the  courage  of 
an  unperturbed  faith.  “The  last  drops  of  my  own 
sacrifice  are  falling;  my  time  to  go  has  come.  I 
have  fought  in  the  good  fight;  I  have  run  my  course; 
I  have  kept  the  faith.  Now  the  crown  of  a  good 
life  awaits  me,  with  which  the  Lord,  that  just 
Judge,  will  reward  me  on  the  great  Day.”  3  To 
these  touching  words  of  self-surrender,  there  suc¬ 
ceeds,  however,  a  characteristic,  and  almost  amus¬ 
ing,  outburst  of  indignation,  as  if  to  testify  that 
the  volcanic  fires  of  the  old  man’s  nature  were  by 
no  means  extinct.  “Alexander  the  blacksmith,” 

1  Matt.  vii.  24.  2  John  i.  14.  3 II.  Tim  iv.  6-8. 


THE  LETTERS 


121 


Paul  adds,  “has  done  me  a  lot  of  harm:  the  Lord 
will  pay  him  back  for  what  he  has  done.”  1  May 
not  this  be  cherished  as  a  genuine  reminiscence  of 
the  real  Paul, — eager  to  sacrifice  himself,  yet  not 
quite  ready  to  forgive  his  enemies;  facing  death 
with  sublime  tranquillity,  yet  still  settling  accounts 
with  those  who  had  done  him  “a  lot  of  harm”  ? 
How  delightfully  incongruous  is  the  further  confes¬ 
sion,  “My  time  to  go  has  come,”  with  the  scrupu¬ 
lous  order  to  Timothy  which  immediately  follows, 
to  “bring  the  mantle  I  left  at  Troas  with  Carpus, 
also  my  books,  and  particularly  my  paper.”  2  The 
sublime  and  the  insignificant,  the  universal  and 
the  particular,  renunciation  and  combativeness, 
meet  without  disguise;  and  the  same  splendid 
indifference  to  consistency  which  has  made  the 
letters  of  Paul  so  perplexing  to  the  system-makers 
of  the  Church  gives  to  these  last  words, — if  indeed 
these  words  be  his, — a  peculiar  pathos  and  reality. 

There  remains  the  beautiful  little  letter  to 
Philemon,  which  should  be  chronologically  con¬ 
sidered  with  the  Letters  of  the  Imprisonment,  but 
which,  by  some  happy  accident,  or  fine  sense  of 
rhetorical  climax, — or,  perhaps,  as  prosaic  critics 
are  inclined  to  believe,  simply  because  it  is  short, — 
has  been  given  its  place  at  the  end  of  the  series. 
His  “beloved  fellow- worker,”  living  at  Colossae, 
had,  it  seemed,  among  his  slaves  one  Onesimus,  a 
“worthless  character”  who  had  run  away  from 
his  master  and  had  appeared  in  Rome.  There  he 
had  become,  Paul  writes,  a  “spiritual  son  born 
1 II  Tim.  iv.  14.  2 II  Tim.  iv.  13. 


122  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

while  I  was  in  prison 1  and  now  Paul  sends  back 
the  runaway,  “no  longer  a  mere  slave  but  some¬ 
thing  more  than  a  slave — a  beloved  brother,”  2 
confident  that  Philemon  will  “receive  him  as  you 
would  receive  me  [Paul],  and  if  he  has  cheated  you 
of  any  money  or  owes  you  any  sum,  put  that  down 
to  my  account.”  3  “I  know  you  will  do  even 
more  than  I  tell  you.”  4  The  controversies  of  lit¬ 
erals  ts  have  raged  round  this  kindly  letter  as 
though  it  were  a  defence  of  fugitive-slave  laws. 
It  is,  in  fact,  not  a  forensic  argument,  but  the 
private  correspondence  of  a  courteous  gentleman. 
“I  would  have  liked  to  keep  him  beside  me,”  Paul 
writes  of  this  converted  slave,  “but  I  did  not 
want  to  do  anything  without  your  consent.”  5 
The  letter  is  like  a  calm  sunset  after  the  stormy 
day  of  Paul’s  career,  and  leaves  him  at  the  close 
preoccupied  with  kindly  thoughts  of  personal 
affection.  Yet  it  is  as  sagacious  as  it  is  considerate. 
It  assumes  magnanimity  in  the  master,  and  for¬ 
giveness  for  the  runaway.  It  is  to  the  last  the 
high-minded  gentleman,  who  is  at  the  same  time 
the  unanswerable  disputant.  He  is,  as  he  always 
has  been,  indifferent  to  social  distinctions,  claim¬ 
ing  the  slave  as  a  spiritual  son,  and  the  slave-owner 
as  his  “beloved  fellow- worker.”  Yet,  as  he  had 
once  won  a  hearing  from  the  Athenians  by  assuring 
them  that  they  were  “a  most  religious  people,”  6 
so  now  he  pledges  Philemon  to  generosity  by  antic¬ 
ipating  that  “your  goodness  to  me  may  come  of 

1  Philemon,  vs.  io.  3  vs.  17-18.  6  vs.  13, 14. 

2  vs.  16.  4  vs.  21.  6  Acts  xvii.  22. 


THE  LETTERS 


I23 


your  own  free  will.”  1  He  asks  with  confidence 
this  act  of  grace,  and  then  lifts  that  act  into  reli¬ 
gious  significance  with  a  concluding  prayer  that 
“The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your 
spirit.”  2 

Such,  in  brief,  would  appear  to  be  the  impres¬ 
sion  which  may  not  unreasonably  be  made  by  the 
letters  of  Paul  on  a  modem  reader,  as  he  surrenders 
himself,  without  preconception  or  erudition,  to 
their  power  and  charm.  Many  details  remain 
obscure,  and  some  of  the  teachings  are  involved 
in  issues  which  are  hopelessly  remote  or  in  specu¬ 
lations  which  are  demonstrably  unfulfilled.  Yet 
through  the  labyrinthine  reasoning  which  it  has 
been  the  delight  of  theologians  to  penetrate,  and 
the  mystical  illumination  which  has  reassured  a 
discouraged  orthodoxy,  the  main  intention  of  the 
letters  seems  revealed  beyond  dispute.  An  alert 
and  fertile  mind,  trained  in  the  learning  of  the 
time,  and  fortified  by  an  almost  unprecedented 
experience  of  danger  and  suffering,  is  obedient  to 
the  transforming  vision  of  a  risen  Christ  and  a 
universal  faith,  and  pours  out,  often  in  bewildering 
language,  an  unrestrained  stream  of  exhortation, 
argument,  aspiration,  admonition,  and  affection. 
To  find  in  these  intensely  human  documents  a 
coherent  or  systematic  scheme  of  Christian  theol¬ 
ogy  is  to  miss  their  note  of  personal  correspondence 
and  paternal  intention.  What  meets  one  is,  in  fact, 
not  so  much  a  single  and  consistent  personality 
as  a  series  of  phases,  a  life  in  motion,  so  that  one 
1  Philemon  14.  2  Philemon  25. 


124  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

seems  to  be  dealing  not  with  a  single  character 
but  with  several  men.  In  the  earlier  letters,  the 
writer  is  Paul  the  Emancipator,  the  protagonist 
of  a  liberal  Christianity,  the  rescuer  of  the  Gospel 
from  the  bonds  of  the  Law.  To  this  character 
succeeds  that  of  Paul  the  Conciliator,  adjusting 
the  conflicting  claims  of  Gentiles  and  Jews.  This 
phase  of  self-expression  is  followed  by  that  of  Paul 
the  Spiritualizer,  penetrating  the  body  of  faith 
to  its  life-giving  soul.  Still  again,  this  “ pris¬ 
matic”  character  reappears  as  Paul  the  Mystic, 
indifferent  to  the  evidence  of  history,  sustained 
by  the  contemplation  of  a  cosmic  drama,  turn¬ 
ing  from  the  human  Jesus  whom  he  had  opposed 
to  the  eternal  Christ  with  whom  he  daily  com¬ 
munes.  Finally,  behind  all  these  shifting  moods, 
stands  the  figure  of  Paul  the  Counsellor,  the  prac¬ 
tical  moralist,  the  candid  critic  of  conduct,  and 
sagacious  guide  in  matters  of  duty. 

Which  of  these,  one  may  ask,  is  the  real  Paul? 
Should  he  be  remembered  as  the  apostle  of  religious 
liberty,  or  the  creator  of  Christian  theology,  or 
the  witness  of  the  mysteries  of  God,  or  the  teacher 
of  Christian  ethics?  Is  he  primarily  emancipator, 
spiritualizer,  harmonizer,  mystic,  or  counsellor? 
Do  these  transitions  indicate  growth  or  decline 
in  character?  Is  the  real  Paul  not  disclosed  until 
he  writes  the  letters  of  the  captivity,  or  are  these 
letters  utterances  which  betray  Paul  the  aged? 
The  obvious  answer  must  be  that  all  these  phases 
are  real,  and  must  find  their  places  in  one’s  final 
estimate  of  the  great  teacher.  The  letters,  in  short, 


THE  LETTERS 


125 


must  be  taken  just  as  they  are,  as  the  record  of  a 
singularly  many-sided  and  responsive  nature, 
which  cared  little  for  consistency  and  everything 
for  reality.  The  liberal  and  the  Calvinist,  the 
moralist  and  the  mystic,  all  alike  find  themselves 
reassured  by  the  writings  of  Paul.  Sometimes 
these  letters  are  subtle  enough  to  satisfy  the  most 
exacting  theologian;  sometimes  they  are  plain 
enough  to  make  a  manual  of  social  ethics.  In 
other  words,  it  is  futile  to  construct  a  closed  system 
of  thought  and  call  it  Pauline.  The  teaching 
shifts  with  experiences  and  needs.  “  There  is 
something  transitional  about  all  St.  Paul’s  teaching. 
We  cannot  take  him  out  of  his  historical  setting, 
as  so  many  of  his  commentators  in  the  nineteenth 
century  tried  to  do.  This  is  only  another  way 
of  saying  that  he  was,  to  use  his  own  expression, 
a  wise  master-builder,  not  a  detached  thinker, 
an  arm-chair  philosopher.”  1  Letters  of  this  per¬ 
sonal  and  spontaneous  nature  must  become  the 
despair  of  those  who  are  looking  for  continuity 
or  infallibility;  for  they  report  a  faith  in  process, 
the  response  of  an  extraordinarily  susceptible 
mind  to  successive  suggestions  of  life  and  thought. 
Paul  neither  disguises  nor  palliates  his  impetuous 
changes  of  emphasis,  or  his  abrupt  ventures  into 
speculative  belief.  The  impression  which  one 
thus  receives  to-day  cannot  be  very  unlike  the  im¬ 
pression  made  on  his  original  readers, — the  impres¬ 
sion  of  a  mind  always  expectant  of  new  light, 
reporting  with  reckless  disregard  for  consistency 
1  W.  R.  Inge,  “Outspoken  Essays,”  1919,  p.  229. 


126  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


what  seemed  for  the  moment  most  essential,  but 
steadied  throughout  this  inclination  to  opportunism 
by  a  continuous  sense  of  universal  significance 
in  the  revelation  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 

In  short,  the  letters  of  Paul  are  the  confessions 
of  a  great  soul  and  the  counsels  of  a  great  mind, 
revealing  with  the  intimacy  of  passionate  affec¬ 
tion  the  hopes  and  fears,  the  ideas  and  ideals,  which 
passing  events  conspired  to  suggest.  Liberty, 
unity,  spirituality,  the  bearing  of  each  other’s 
burdens,  the  supreme  law  of  sacrificial  love, — 
these  essential  graces  of  the  Christian  life,  traced 
in  masterly  fashion  to  the  abiding  influence  of  the 
grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  give  to  the  letters  of  Paul 
their  permanent  place  as  guides  of  religious  ex¬ 
perience,  and  make  them  the  most  undisguised 
and  the  most  inspiring  chapters  of  spiritual  auto¬ 
biography  in  the  history  of  literature. 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

As  one  turns  from  this  brief  survey  of  the  life 
and  letters  of  Paul  to  consider  their  significance 
for  the  modern  world,  one  is,  first  of  all,  impressed 
by  the  extraordinary  susceptibility  and  mobility 
of  the  apostle’s  mind.  Whatever  he  has  learned 
of  God  or  man  is  interwoven  with  his  Christian 
conviction.  He  touches  nothing  that  he  does  not 
assimilate  or  transform.  Jewish  tradition,  Greek 
philosophy,  and  Oriental  mysticism  are  appro¬ 
priated  as  material  for  his  alert  and  discerning 
thought.  The  message  delivered  by  Jesus  becomes 
involved  in  analogies,  allusions,  and  ideas,  drawn 
from  every  quarter  as  sanctions  of  a  world-re¬ 
ligion.  In  short,  the  writings  of  Paul  exhibit,  in 
an  almost  unparalleled  degree,  a  synthetic  mind. 
His  originality  is  like  that  of  Shakespeare;  it  is  in 
the  gift  to  seize  on  familiar  and  uninstructive 
material  and  mould  it  into  a  work  of  genius. 
Hamlet  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  are  not 
less  original  because  one  can  trace  in  each  the 
sources  of  the  dramatic  plan.  To  gather  all  the 
wisdom  of  his  time  into  the  service  of  his  Lord; 
to  universalize  the  new  faith  by  appropriating  all 
current  philosophy  and  forms  of  worship  as  its 
adumbration  or  symbol, — such  was  the  epoch- 

127 


128  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


making  achievement  of  Paul’s  fertile  and  receptive 
mind.  He  did  not  merely  select  scattered  frag¬ 
ments;  he  recognized  spiritual  affinities;  and  this 
assimilation  of  foreign  elements  insured  the  sta¬ 
bility  and  expansion  of  Christianity  in  the  Roman 
world. 

This  gift  for  synthesis  was  the  more  remarkable 
because  the  instincts  and  practices  of  Paul’s  own 
people  promoted  a  rigid  and  jealous  separatism. 
They  were  the  chosen  race,  needing  no  reinforce¬ 
ment  from  alien  traditions.  It  required  intellectual 
audacity  for  one  of  them  to  write,  “  There  is  no 
distinction  of  Jew  and  Greek,  the  same  Lord  is 
Lord  of  them  all,  with  ample  for  all  who  invoke 
him.”  1  Yet  this  capacity  for  assimilation  involves 
its  own  limitations,  and  becomes  singularly  in¬ 
structive  to  those  who  must  meet,  under  different 
conditions,  the  new  demands  of  another  age.  The 
traditions  and  cults  so  freely  appropriated  by  Paul 
for  the  edification  of  his  readers  have  become,  for 
the  most  part,  unconvincing,  or  even  unintelligible, 
to  the  modem  mind ;  and  a  theology  or  Christology 
constructed  of  such  material  must  be  at  many 
points  inapplicable  to  the  problems  and  needs  of 
modern  life;  yet  the  same  gift  of  appreciation  which 
commended  Paul’s  reasoning  to  the  Greek  or  Ro¬ 
man  world  remains  indispensable  for  the  interpre¬ 
tation  of  the  world  to-day.  To  take  the  world  as  it 
is,  with  its  varied  and  conflicting  philosophies  and 
faiths,  and  to  discover  in  their  discordant  utter¬ 
ances  the  dominant  note  of  truth  which  binds  their 
1Rom.  x.  12.  Cf.  Gal.  iii.  28;  Col.  iii.  11. 


THEOLOGY 


I29 


dissonances  into  harmony, — that  must  always  be 
the  problem,  even  if  unconsciously  solved,  for  the 
synthetic  mind,  and  it  may  lead  at  last,  as  it  did 
the  Apostle  Paul,  to  the  full  chord  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  message  which  other  faiths  and  philosophies 
had  felt  after  and  had  failed  to  touch. 

The  first  obligation,  therefore,  of  one  who  recog¬ 
nizes  this  gift  for  assimilation  in  the  Apostle  Paul 
is  to  release  his  teaching  from  its  temporary  forms, 
and  to  appropriate  those  elements  of  it  which  are 
neither  Hebraic  nor  Hellenic,  but  universal  and 
permanent.  There  are  many  signs  that  Paul’s  own 
readers  needed  to  apply  a  similar  discrimination 
between  the  accidental  and  the  essential,  the  transi¬ 
tory  and  the  permanent.  He  censures  them  for 
their  imperfect  appreciation  of  his  purpose.  They 
are  “mere  babes  in  Christ;”  they  must  be  fed 
“with  milk,  not  with  solid  food.”  1  They  did  not 
appropriate  his  message;  they  evaded  it.  A  similar 
discrimination  between  what  is  temporary  and 
what  is  timeless  must  be  exercised  by  the  modem 
reader.  The  soul  of  a  teaching  may  be  sacrificed  to 
the  care  of  its  body.  To  perpetuate  the  incidental 
and  contemporary  may  be  to  miss  the  meaning  of 
the  essential  message;  to  revere  the  letter  may  be 
to  forfeit  the  spirit.  In  short,  the  modern  student 
of  Paul  is  encouraged  by  him  to  proceed,  as  he 
urged  his  own  readers  to  learn  from  him,  not  by 
claiming  his  authority  for  ways  of  thought  which 
have  become  unreal,  or  for  types  of  worship  which 
are  inapplicable  to  modern  life,  but  by  using,  with 

1 1  Cor.  iii.  1,  2. 


I30  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

a  reinforcing  sense  of  Paul’s  companionship,  the 
same  discrimination  which  he  exercised,  and  by 
finding  in  him  a  bold  leader  and  an  inspiring  guide. 
“Brothers,”  he  says  to  the  modem  world,  as  he 
did  to  the  “saints”  in  Galatia,  “You  were  called 
to  be  free;  only,  do  not  make  your  freedom  an 
opening  for  the  flesh,  but  serve  one  another  in 
love,”  1  or,  as  he  wrote  to  the  Corinthians,  “  Where- 
ever  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  open  free¬ 
dom.”  2 

When  one,  with  this  intention,  reviews  the 
teaching  of  Paul,  and  enters  even  slightly  into 
what  he  calls  “the  glorious  freedom  of  the  children 
of  God,”  3  it  is  disheartening  to  observe  that  pre¬ 
cisely  the  opposite  procedure  has  often  dominated 
the  practice  of  the  Church.  Instead  of  accepting 
from  him  the  cardinal  principle  of  intellectual 
liberty,  and  applying  the  selective  appreciation  of 
which  he  was  a  master  to  the  problems  of  each 
successive  age,  these  problems  have  themselves 
been  forced  into  the  procrustean  bed  of  Paul’s 
own  environment.  Instead  of  translating  Paul’s 
teaching  into  the  language  of  a  new  time,  the  needs 
of  the  new  time  have  been  translated  into  the 
language  of  Paul.  Instead  of  his  being  an  apostle 
of  flexibility  and  expansion,  he  has  been  regarded 
as  an  oracle  of  fixity  and  restriction.  What  has 
been  taught  as  most  essential  in  Paul  has  often 
been  that  which  was  merely  contemporary,  and 
what  is  timeless  has  been  subordinated  or  ig¬ 
nored.  Many  a  Christian  theologian  has  been 

1  Gal.  v.  13.  2 II  Cor.  iii.  17.  3  Rom.  viii.  21. 


THEOLOGY 


131 

slow  to  regard  himself  as  what  the  apostle  calls 
“the  minister  of  a  new  covenant — a  covenant  not 
of  written  law  but  of  spirit;  for  the  written  law 
kills  but  the  Spirit  makes  alive.”  1 

In  the  introduction  to  Paul  Sabatier’s  monu¬ 
mental  “Life  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,”  attention  is 
called  to  the  strange  destiny  through  which  a 
movement  “which  was  in  the  beginning  anti¬ 
monastic”  resulted  “in  the  constitution  of  a  new 
family  of  monks.”  “It  is  not  rare  for  history,” 
this  author  continues,  “to  have  similar  contra¬ 
dictions  to  record.  The  meek  Galilean  who 
preached  the  religion  of  a  personal  revelation, 
without  ceremonial  or  dogmatic  law,  triumphed 
only  on  condition  of  being  conquered,  and  of  per¬ 
mitting  his  words  of  spirit  and  life  to  be  confis¬ 
cated  by  a  church  essentially  dogmatic  and  sacer¬ 
dotal.”  2  Something  of  the  same  destiny  has 
overtaken  the  teaching  of  St.  Paul.  The  apostle 
of  spiritual  liberty  has  become  for  many  minds 
a  representative  of  dogmatic  restrictions,  and  the 
bulwark  of  a  “church  essentially  dogmatic  and 
sacerdotal.” 

This  lack  of  proportion  and  perspective  in  the 
appreciation  of  Paul’s  teaching  is  most  conspicuous 
in  the  estimate  widely  accepted  of  him  as  a  theo¬ 
logian.  His  profound  reflections  on  the  ways  of 
God  and  the  nature  of  Christ  have  been  given,  in 
many  systems  of  theology,  the  central  place  in 
the  formulation  of  Christian  truth.  Membership 

1 II  Cor.  iii.  6. 

2  “Life  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,”  tr.  1894,  p.  xviii. 


132  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

in  the  Church  of  Christ  has  been  much  more  fre¬ 
quently  based  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  than 
on  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  Christology 
of  the  letter  to  the  Ephesians  has  overshadowed 
the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  It  is  instructive, 
therefore,  to  observe  that  this  acceptance  of  the 
theology  of  Paul  as  the  test  of  orthodoxy  did  not 
commend  itself  to  Paul’s  contemporaries.  The 
flexibility  and  susceptibility  of  his  mind  made  him 
appear  a  dangerous  innovator.  His  comrades 
in  Jerusalem  were  frankly  suspicious  of  him. 
“They  have  heard  that  you  teach  Jews  who  live 
among  Gentiles  to  break  away  from  Moses.”  1 
Nor  were  the  congregations  in  his  own  mission- 
field  deeply  moved  by  his  theological  generaliza¬ 
tions.  “The  main  current  of  Christian  thought 
did  not,  as  is  often  imagined,  take  its  rise  in  Paul, 
it  did  not  even  pass  through  him;  rather  it  flowed 
by  him  as  round  a  rock  in  the  bed  of  a  stream.”  2 
There  was  “an  altissimum  silentium  concerning 
Paul  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  Christian  cen¬ 
tury.  .  .  .  Irenaeus  is,  so  far  as  we  know,  the 
first  theologian  who  breaks  the  long  and  painful 
•silence  of  the  Church  concerning  Paul.  .  .  .  And 
yet  the  harmony  between  Paul  and  Irenaeus  is 
essentially  deceptive.  It  might  be  said  that  Ire¬ 
naeus  accepted  Paul  officially,  and  recognized  him  as 
a  theologian,  at  the  cost  of  perverting,  in  a  grand 
manner,  Paul’s  ideas,  and  stripping  them  of  their 
essentials.”  3 

1  Acts  xxi.  2i.  2  G.  F.  Moore,  “History  of  Religions,”  II.  136. 

3  Bousset,  “Kyrios  Christos,”  2  te  Aufl.  1921,  ss.  xii,  356. 


THEOLOGY 


133 


The  fact  is  that,  in  spite  of  the  daring  and 
sublime  speculations  which  have  monopolized 
the  attention  of  so  many  scholars,  Paul  was 
not  primarily,  or  in  the  estimation  of  those 
whom  he  addressed,  a  theologian.  He  was  an 
emancipator,  an  expansionist,  a  discerner  of  the 
scope  and  majesty  of  the  Divine  purpose,  a 
wise  and  fearless  counsellor  among  the  practical 
conditions  of  perplexed  or  misguided  lives.  Much 
of  his  theology  was  improvised  or  transitional;  but 
through  the  shifting  forms  of  thought  there  shines, 
like  sunlight  through  drifting  clouds,  his  illuminat¬ 
ing  faith.  “ There  is,”  Dean  Inge,  with  character¬ 
istic  candor,  affirms,  “no  system  in  Paul’s  theol¬ 
ogy,  and  there  is  a  singularly  rapid  development 
of  thought.”  1  A  German  scholar  goes  even  further 
in  affirming  that  “one  might  almost  as  well  envisage 
Frederick  the  Great  merely  as  an  historian;  ”  2 
and  in  restrained,  yet  unequivocal,  language, 
one  of  the  most  judicious  of  modem  scholars  con¬ 
cludes,  “As  a  theological  system  Paulinism,  not- 

So,  Jowett,  “Epistles  of  St.  Paul,”  ed.  1855,  I.  346  ff.  “In 
later  writings  we  find  no  trace  of  the  mind  of  St.  Paul.  His  in¬ 
fluence  seems  to  pass  from  the  world.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of  the 
Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  to  the  Galatians  has  revived  in  later 
times.  But  there  is  no  trace  that  the  writings  of  the  apostle  left 
any  lasting  impress  within  the  Church,  or  perhaps  anywhere  in 
the  first  ages.” 

1  “  Outspoken  Essays,”  p.  207.  So,  J.  R.  Cohu,  “St.  Paul  and 
Modern  Research,”  191-1,  p.  26.  “His  teaching  is  not  always  con¬ 
sistent.  .  .  .  His  views  grew  and  broadened  with  his  growing  ex¬ 
perience,  and  he  never  was  afraid  of  contradicting  himself.” 

2  Weinel,  op.  cit.,  tr.  1906,  p.  286. 


134  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  and  the  modern  world 

withstanding  its  wealth  of  pregnant  thoughts, 
belongs  to  a  past  that  cannot  be  revived.  .  .  . 
What  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul  is  still  vital  and 
creative  is  not  their  theology,  but  their  religion.”  1 
The  theology  of  Paul  is,  in  a  word,  precious  to  the 
modern  world  not  so  much  for  the  validity  of  its 
definitions  as  for  the  range  of  its  vision;  not  so 
much  for  the  dogmas  it  formulates  as  for  the 
experiences  which  it  reveals. 

This  preliminary  recognition  of  the  subordinate 
place  of  the  Pauline  theology  does  not,  however, 
reduce  it  to  insignificance.  On  the  contrary, 
these  soaring  speculations  of  a  marvellously  recep¬ 
tive  and  lofty  intellect  are  among  the  greatest 
achievements  of  the  human  reason.  The  habit 
of  mind  thus  represented — unconstrained,  master¬ 
ful,  open-minded,  and  teachable — is  that  which 
a  modern  scholar  is  trained  to  appreciate  and  re¬ 
spect.  The  theology  of  Paul  was  inevitably 
moulded  by  the  pressure  of  Hebraism  on  the 
one  hand  and  of  Hellenism  on  the  other,  and  neither 
of  these  forms  of  thought  is  comprehensive  enough 
to  hold  the  theology  of  the  modern  world;  yet 
the  spiritual  experience  of  the  apostle,  of  which 
his  theology  is  the  formal  expression,  represents 
the  same  problem  of  conflict  and  victory  that  con¬ 
fronts  all  serious  life  and  thought.  A  man  of 
great  intellectual  gifts,  passionate  emotions,  and 
untiring  vitality,  finds  himself  committed  to  a 
cause  which  is  in  danger  of  becoming  provincial, 
racial,  and  restricted,  and  asks  himself  how  the 

1  Morgan,  op.  cit.t  p.  269. 


THEOLOGY 


135 


kindling  and  reconciling  message  which  bums 
within  him  can  be  delivered  to  a  larger  world.  It 
must  speak  the  language  of  that  world;  it  must 
interpret  current  thought  in  terms  of  the  new 
obedience;  it  must  universalize  Christianity  by 
drawing  to  its  service  all  the  visions  of  God  and 
schemes  of  redemption  which  were  familiar  in  the 
West  or  imported  from  the  East.  In  short,  there 
confronted  this  new  convert  precisely  the  same 
problem  which  meets  any  thoughtful  Christian 
in  the  modern  world. 

In  his  discerning  study  of  “The  Religious  Ex¬ 
perience  of  St.  Paul”  (pp.  227  f.),  Professor  Percy 
Gardner  suggestively  remarks  that  the  apostle’s 
“attitude  of  mind  can  be  appreciated  best  by 
those  who  have  felt  the  strong  breeze  which  is 
driving  modern  thought  in  the  direction  of  prag¬ 
matism.”  “To  discover  that  St.  Paul  was  at 
heart  a  pragmatist,  and  in  deep  sympathy  with 
this  modern  way  of  regarding  religion,  is  a  happy 
thing.”  Is  not  this  association  of  Paul’s  teaching 
with  “the  strong  breeze  which  is  driving  modem 
thought”  precisely  the  method  of  claiming  atten¬ 
tion  and  asserting  contemporaneousness  which 
Paul  himself  used  in  observing  the  “breezes”  of 
his  own  time?  Just  as  he  now  might  say,  “Yes, 
I  am  a  pragmatist,  and  this  modern  way  of  regard¬ 
ing  religion  is  but  a  revival  of  my  preaching  to 
each  age  the  things  to  that  age  most  necessary,” 
so,  it  would  seem,  he  observed  the  intellectual 
tendencies  of  his  own  age,  and  wrought  them  into 
his  own  teaching  as  confirmations  of  his  message. 


136  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

How  to  emancipate  Christian  teaching  from 
narrowness,  sectarianism  and  prejudice;  how  to 
gather  into  cooperation  with  its  aim  all  that  the 
science,  philosophy  and  spiritual  insight  of  one’s 
time  are  prescribing  or  prompting;  how  to  claim 
primacy  for  the  Christian  ideal  among  the  intel¬ 
lectual  forces  directing  contemporary  thought, — 
such  is  the  problem  of  Christian  leadership  for 
every  age;  and  the  supreme  example  of  this  bold 
grasp  of  the  spirit  of  one’s  own  time  and  this 
application  to  the  Christian  life  of  ideas  which 
might  seem  hopelessly  remote  or  alien,  is  in  the 
appropriation  and  adaptation  of  extra- Christian 
thought  by  the  fertile  genius  of  the  Apostle  Paul. 
One  must  approach  the  theology  of  Paul  as  one  in 
Paul’s  own  time  might  enter  an  ancient  temple. 
The  outer  courts  are  crowded  with  the  incidental 
elements  of  contemporary  mythology;  but  the 
reverent  worshipper  regards  these  with  but  a 
passing  glance  as  he  enters  the  solemn  simplicity 
of  the  central  shrine. 

The  contemporary  influences  which  are  the 
outer  court  of  Paul’s  thought,  but  which  have  be¬ 
come  irrelevant  or  archaic  to  the  modern  mind, 
may  therefore  be  briefly  recalled,  and  passed  by. 
The  most  immediate  and  inevitable  was  his  early 
training  in  Hebrew  tradition  and  habits  of  thought. 
Radical  and  transforming  as  was  his  conversion 
to  a  new  faith,  and  uncompromising  as  was  his 
assertion  that  “  Christ  is  an  end  to  law,”  1  he  could 
not  detach  himself  from  the  method  of  his  teachers, 

1  Rom.  x.  4. 


THEOLOGY 


137 


or  from  the  apocalyptic  dreams  of  his  people.  He 
taught,  as  did  the  rabbis,  by  allegories  and  types. 
Hagar  and  Sarah,  the  slavewoman  and  the  free- 
woman,  are  to  him  types  of  Jerusalem  in  servitude 
and  of  the  Jerusalem  on  high.  “This  is  an  alle¬ 
gory,”  1  he  says.  “Our  fathers  .  .  .  drank  the 
same  spiritual  drink  (drinking  from  the  spiritual 
Rock  which  accompanied  them — and  that  Rock 
was  Christ).” 2  Isaiah,  prophesying  that  the 
Lord’s  message  shall  be  uttered  “with  stammering 
lips  and  another  tongue,”  3  fortifies  Paul’s  inter¬ 
pretation  of  the  gift  of  tongues.4  The  fact  that 
the  promises  “made  to  Abraham”  are  to  “his 
offspring”  suggests  to  Paul  that  the  use  of  the 
singular  rather  than  the  plural  is  a  foreshadowing 
of  Christ; 5  and  these  promises  are  to  be  at  last 
fulfilled,  so  that  “the  blessing  of  Abraham  might 
reach  the  Gentiles  in  Christ  Jesus.”  6  In  at  least 
one  passage,  the  agile  memory  of  the  apostle  leaps 
from  point  to  point  in  the  familiar  Scriptures,  and 
he  heaps  together  disconnected  passages  from 
various  books  in  his  comprehensive  indictment 
of  the  sins  of  his  own  time.7  It  was,  no  doubt, 
the  most  appealing  form  of  argument  which  could 
be  addressed  to  those  who  revered  the  rabbis, 
and  who,  like  Paul,  knew  their  Old  Testament 
by  heart;  but  the  very  applicability  of  this  argu- 

1  Gal.  iv.  24.  4 1  Cor.  xiv.  1-24. 

2 1  Cor.  x.  1-4;  cf.  above,  p.  51.  6  Gal.  iii.  16;  Gen.  xii.  2-3. 

3  Is.  xxviii.  11.  6  Gal.  iii.  14. 

7  Rom.  iii.  10-18,  citing  Ps.  xiv.  1-3;  Ps.  liii.  1;  Ps.  v.  9;  Ps. 

cxl.  3;  Ps.  x.  7;  Prov.  i.  16;  Is.  lix.  7-8;  Ps.  xxxvi.  1. 


I38  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

ment  to  Paul’s  first  readers  makes  it  seem  fanciful 
and  unconvincing  to  the  modern  mind.  The 
argument  from  allegory  can  impress  only  those 
who  prize  the  imagination  as  an  organ  of  exegesis 
or  those  who  delight  in  discovering  in  each  incident 
of  Old  Testament  history  a  premonitory  type  of 
the  greater  revelation  which  was  to  come. 

Even  more  characteristic  of  Paul’s  habit  of  mind, 
and  not  less  transitory  in  its  influence,  was  the 
view  of  the  universe,  and  of  the  forces  controlling 
it,  which  Paul  shared  with  the  Jews  of  his  own 
time.  He  had  been  taught  to  see  in  the  spiritual 
conflicts  of  life  and  nature  a  vast  cosmic  struggle 
between  evil  daemons  and  the  Divine  wisdom. 
The  world  as  he  conceived  it  was  a  scene  of  revolt, 
where  the  “  potentates  of  the  dark  present,  the 
spirit-forces  of  evil  in  the  heavenly  sphere,”  1  con¬ 
tended  against  God.  These  “  dethroned,  powers 
who  rule  this  world”  had  their  guilty  part  in  the 
fate  of  Jesus  and  “crucified  the  Lord  of  glory.”  2 
The  strategy  of  God,  however,  had  converted  this 
disaster  into  a  victory,  and  the  daemonic  powers 
had  been  defeated  by  the  raising  of  the  Lord  of 
Glory  from  the  dead,  and  by  bestowing  on  those 
who  accepted  him  a  share  in  his  triumph.  “We 
are  more  than  conquerors  through  him  who  loved 
us,”  Paul  says,  “for  I  am  certain  ...  no  powers 

1  Eph.  vi.  12. 

2 1  Cor.  ii.  6,  8.  See,  also,  the  careful  and  learned  discussion  of 
H.  B.  Carre,  “Paul’s  Doctrine  of  Redemption,”  1914,  e.  g.,  p.  21: 
“His  scheme  for  human  redemption  is  to  be  understood  as  a  part 
of  the  cosmic  redemption;  i.  e .,  as  the  freeing  of  man  from  the 
dominion  of  the  daemonic  powers,  in  particular,  Sin  and  Death.” 


THEOLOGY 


139 


of  the  Height  or  of  the  Depth,  nor  anything  else 
in  all  creation  will  be  able  to  part  us  from  God’s 
love  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.”  1  It  was  a  stupen¬ 
dous  drama  which  Paul  thus  saw  enacting  itself 
before  his  eyes,  a  world-war  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,  not  unlike  that  which  is  portrayed  in  the 
splendid  imagery  of  Milton’s  “Paradise  Lost.”  Yet 
neither  of  these  monuments  of  poetic  genius  can  be 
permanently  accepted  as  an  historical  narrative. 
“All  this  dim  world  has  passed  from  our  minds; 
this  tale  of  war  in  the  spirit-sphere  is  for  us  the 
merest  mythology — ‘as  much  a  dream  as  Milton’s 
hierarchies,’  wrote  John  Keats.”  2  The  war  with 
daemons,  like  the  argument  from  Old  Testament 
analogies,  can  have  no  part  in  shaping  the  theology 
of  the  modern  world. 

Yet,  while  neither  of  these  influences  of  con¬ 
temporary  Judaism  remains  convincing  in  its 
details,  the  effect  of  each  on  the  mind  of  Paul  has 
permanent  significance.  On  the  one  hand,  his 
unbroken  attachment  to  the  legends  and  literature 
of  his  own  people  kindled  in  his  mind  an  extraor¬ 
dinary  sense  of  historic  continuity.  His  own 
thinking,  with  all  its  swift  transitions,  had  behind 

1  Rom.  viii.  37,  39. 

2T.  R.  Glover,  “Jesus  in  the  Experience  of  Men,”  1921,  p.  3. 
Cf.  Reitzenstein,  “Poimandres,”  1904,  ss.  79,  80:  “It  is 
true  that  there  survives  in  Paul  much  of  the  more  general, 
and  to  a  certain  degree,  neutral,  conception  of  the  elemental 
spirits  held  in  earlier  Judaism.  But  the  ‘Rulers  of  the  world’ 
are  recognized  as  evil  spirits,  who  in  their  conflict  with  God  have 
accomplished  the  crucifixion  of  Christ.  Their  rule  will,  however, 
end  on  that  day  when  God  regains  his  dominion.” 


140  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

it  this  sense  of  cosmic  unity,  and  became  a  growth 
rather  than  a  fixed  system,  a  flowering  from  the 
root  of  a  sacred  faith.  Paul  did  not  outgrow  his 
past;  he  grew  out  of  it.  The  Divine  plan  for 
Israel  was  not,  in  his  thought,  abandoned  at  the 
coming  of  Christ;  it  was  fulfilled.  The  universe 
was  not  taken  by  surprise  when  the  new  faith  ar¬ 
rived;  it  had  been  waiting  “with  eager  longing 
for  the  sons  of  God  to  be  revealed.”  1  “The  Law 
thus  held  us  as  wards  in  discipline,  till  such  time 
as  Christ  came.”  2  All  this  brings  Paul  very  near 
to  a  habit  of  mind  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
modern  world,  and  which  views  the  universe  as 
expectant,  premonitory,  prophetic.  What  is  now 
called  teleology  is  but  a  modern  restatement  of 
Paul’s  great  affirmation  of  the  “secret  purpose 
which  after  the  silence  of  long  ages  has  now  been 
disclosed.”  3  Paul,  that  is  to  say,  writing  in  the 
picturesque  and  dramatic  language  of  a  seer, 
rather  than  with  the  precision  of  a  man  of  science, 
anticipated  much  that  is  now  called  evolution. 
“Creation  as  well  as  man,”  he  said,  “would  one  day 
be  freed  from  its  thraldom  to  decay  and  gain  the 
glorious  freedom  of  the  children  of  God.”  4 

A  similar  kinship  with  modern  thought  is  ex¬ 
hibited  by  Paul  through  the  practical  effect  of  his 
belief  in  evil  spirits.  Remote  and  grotesque  as 
such  a  cosmology  may  now  appear,  it  is  based  on 
the  permanent  fact  of  contention  and  struggle  in 
the  moral,  not  less  than  in  the  physical,  world. 

1  Rom.  viii.  19.  3  Rom.  xvi.  26. 

2  Gal.  iii.  24.  4  Rom.  viii.  21. 


THEOLOGY 


141 

As  Paul’s  thought  grows  more  definite,  this  sense 
of  a  cosmic  conflict  becomes  less  materialized  and 
impersonated,  yet  the  spiritual  warfare  which  the 
universe  exhibits  remains  for  him  the  central  prob¬ 
lem  of  life.  Neither  the  tragic  aspects  of  history, 
nor  the  personal  struggles  which  rend  the  individ¬ 
ual  soul,  are  evaded  or  minimized.  “I  want  to 
do  what  is  right,  but  wrong  is  all  I  can  manage;  I 
cordially  agree  with  God’s  law  .  .  .  but  then  I 
find  quite  another  law  in  my  members,  which  con¬ 
flicts  with  the  law  of  my  mind.  .  .  .  Miserable 
wretch  that  I  am!  Who  will  rescue  me  from  this 
body  of  death?  ”  1  This  personal  conflict  is,  how¬ 
ever,  boldly  interpreted  by  Paul  as  a  contention 
of  man  against  the  Divine  purpose  for  him,  and 
calls  for  the  stern  discipline  of  God.  “  God’s 
anger  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  the  im¬ 
piety  and  wickedness  of  those  who  hinder  the 
truth.”  2  And  beyond  all  these  spiritual  dissen¬ 
sions  within  humanity  are  the  vast  campaigns 
of  God  Himself  against  “the  prince  of  the  air — 
the  spirit  which  is  at  present  active  within  those 
sons  of  disobedience  among  whom  all  of  us  lived.”  3 
In  a  word,  what  the  modern  world  has  come  to 
call  the  struggle  for  existence  is  anticipated  by 
Paul  as  a  vast  drama  in  which  all  nature  and  life 
are  involved.  The  world  is  to  him  no  soft  and 
easy  place,  but  “sighs  and  throbs  with  pain.  .  .  . 
Even  we  ourselves,  who  have  the  Spirit  as  a  fore¬ 
taste  of  the  future,  even  we  sigh  to  ourselves  as  we 
wait  for  the  redemption  of  the  body  that  means 

1  Rom.  vii.  21-24.  2  Rom.  i.  18.  3  Eph.  ii.  2-3. 


142  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

our  full  sonship.”  1  Human  life,  like  the  world 
in  which  it  is  set,  is,  therefore,  a  place,  not  for  cow¬ 
ards,  but  for  the  brave.  “It  was  trouble  at  every 
turn,”  Paul  says,  “wrangling  all  round  me,  fears 
in  my  own  mind.”  2  Out  of  the  mythology  of 
dasmons  he  snatches  the  permanent  truth  that  the 
evil  in  the  world  and  in  one’s  self  is  a  challenge 
to  the  courageous.  His  view  of  the  world  is  more 
akin  to  that  of  a  Greek  tragedian  than  of  a  modern 
optimist,  and  it  lifts  his  teaching  out  of  all  feeble 
sentimentalism,  and  makes  it  a  summons  to  the 
heroic  life.  There  were  daemons  enough  left  in 
his  own  members  and  in  a  corrupt  Corinth  or 
Rome  to  demand  all  his  fortitude  and  self-con¬ 
trol.  He  must,  as  the  letter  to  Timothy,  quite 
in  the  spirit  of  Paul,  announced,  “fight  in  the  good 
fight  of  the  faith.”  3 

There  remains  a  still  more  striking  instance  of 
Paul’s  gift  for  appropriating,  and  then  trans¬ 
forming,  the  material  of  Hebrew  tradition.  It 
is  his  dealing  with  the  hopes  which  were  current 
among  his  people  for  a  speedy  end  of  the  existing 

1  Rom.  viii.22 -23. 

2 II  Cor.  vii.  5. 

3 1  Tim.  vi.  12.  Since  this  page  was  written,  the  Pauline 
summons  to  courage  has  been  repeated  in  L.  P.  Jacks’s  striking 
little  volume:  “ Religious  Perplexities,”  1922,  e.  g.,  pp.  29,  37,  38. 
“The  life  of  this  heroic  spirit  is  religion  in  being.  ...  A  free 
soul  .  .  .  finds  his  own  nature  exquisitely  adapted  to  the  nature 
of  the  universe  as  dangerous, — on  that  side  the  ringing  challenge, 
on  this  the  joyous  response,  man  and  the  universe  engaged  to¬ 
gether  as  loyal  confederates  in  the  task  of  creating  a  better-than- 
what-is.” 


THEOLOGY 


143 


order  of  the  world.  Through  the  later  history  of 
Israel,  two  types  of  teaching  concerning  national 
destiny  may  be  traced,  at  times  intermingled, 
seldom  definitely  contrasted,  yet  easily  distinguish¬ 
able  in  nature  and  effect.  On  the  one  hand  was 
the  message  of  the  prophets, — ethical,  spiritual, 
universal.  Jehovah  says  “unto  the  house  of  Israel, 
Seek  ye  me,  and  ye  shall  live.”  1  “Unto  you  that 
fear  my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  righteousness  arise 
with  healing  in  his  wings.”  2  “They  that  wait 
upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength.”  3 
On  the  other  hand  was  the  persistent  anticipation, 
strengthened  by  suffering  and  sustained  under 
persecution,  that  Israel  must  have  her  speedy 
justification  and  triumph,  and  that  Jehovah,  as 
the  God  of  a  chosen  people,  was  pledged  to  restore 
her  primacy  and  glory.  “The  day  of  the  Lord 
is  near  upon  all  the  heathen.”  4  “And  the  wealth 
of  all  the  heathen  round  about  shall  be  gathered 
together.”  5  “This  shall  be  the  punishment.  .  . 
of  all  nations  that  come  not  up  to  keep  the  feast.”  6 
“Then  shall  Jerusalem  be  holy,  and  there  shall  no 
strangers  pass  through  her  any  more.”  7  As  out¬ 
ward  circumstances  grew  less  propitious  this  na¬ 
tional  hope  grew  more  eager  and  confident,  and 
for  more  than  a  century  before  the  Christian  era 
the  final  glorification  of  Israel  was  announced  as 
preordained.  The  sufferings  of  each  successive 
generation  confirmed  this  anticipation  of  the 

1  Amos.  v.  4.  4  Obadiah  15.  6  Zech.  xiv.  19. 

2  Mai.  iv.  2.  5  Zech.  xiv.  14.  7  Joel  iii.  17. 

3  Is.  xl.  31. 


144  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  and  the  modern  world 

Messiah’s  approach.  “The  first  heaven  shall 
depart  and  pass  away,  and  a  new  heaven  shall 
appear.”  1  “And  it  shall  come  to  pass  after  these 
things,  when  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the  Messiah 
is  fulfilled,  that  he  shall  return  to  glory.”  2  This 
sense  of  expectancy  may  be  traced  in  the  synoptic 
Gospels,  where  in  prolonged  discourse  the  woes 
of  the  present  age  are  interpreted  as  prophecies 
of  a  Messianic  reign; 3  and  after  the  death  of  Jesus 
the  first  disciples  hoped  “that  he  would  be  the 
redeemer  of  Israel,” 4  and  would  “restore  the 
Realm  to  Israel.”  5  Into  this  apocalyptic  hope 
Paul  was  born,  and  in  his  teaching  the  anticipation 
is  repeatedly  expressed,  that  “the  day  is  almost 
here;”6  that  “the  interval  has  been  shortened,”  7 
and  that  he  and  his  friends  are  “waiting  till 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  revealed.”  8  Through 
all  the  generations  since,  successive  waves  of  the 
same  great  expectation  have  swept  at  times  over 
large  areas  of  Christian  piety,  and  even  after  their 
subsidence  the  driftwood  of  this  millennial  hope  has 
been  left  stranded  at  many  points  of  Christian  life 
and  literature,  as  in  the  prayer  of  the  Anglican 
Burial  Service,  “That  it  may  please  Thee  of  thy 
gracious  goodness  shortly  to  accomplish  the  num¬ 
ber  of  thine  elect,  and  to  hasten  thy  Kingdom.” 

Yet  while  these  evidences  of  Messianic  expecta¬ 
tion  are  abundant  in  Paul,  the  deeper  note  of 

1 1  Enoch  xli.  16.  5  Acts  i.  6. 

2 II  Baruch  xxx.  i.  6  Rom.  xiii.  12. 

3  Matt,  xxiv.,  Mark  xiii.,  Luke  xxi.  7 1  Cor.  vii.  29. 

4  Luke  xxiv.  21.  8 1  Cor.  i.  7. 


THEOLOGY 


145 

spiritual  and  ethical  teaching  is  not  less  audible, 
and  by  degrees  becomes  his  dominating  hope. 
The  social  pessimism  which  is  the  logical  conse¬ 
quence  of  apocalyptic  dreams,  and  which  at  first 
oppressed  Paul’s  spirit,  becomes  supplanted  by 
social  confidence.  Instead  of  writing  as  he  did  to 
the  Thessalonians  that  “the  Rebellion  takes  place 
first  of  all,  with  the  revealing  of  the  Lawless  One,”  1 
he  writes  to  the  Romans  of  a  personal  and  moral 
regeneration  through  “God’s  saving  power  for 
everyone  who  has  faith.”  2  “The  law  of  the  Spirit 
brings  the  life  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  that 
law  has  set  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.”  3 
These  divergent  ways  of  appeal  and  instruction 
might  seem  to  suggest  a  divided  mind  in  Paul,  and 
the  question  has  been  often  and  hotly  debated 
whether  the  substance  of  his  teaching  is  to  be 
found  in  apocalyptic  anticipations  or  in  ethical 
and  spiritual  commands.  Neither  of  these  alterna¬ 
tives  would  seem,  however,  to  be  inevitable.  Both 
assume  fixity  and  continuity  in  a  teaching  which 
is  in  an  extraordinary  degree  fluid  and  developing. 
In  this  aspect,  as  in  many  others,  the  thought  of 
Paul  is  a  living  growth,  which  as  it  gets  firmer 
root  bears  a  fairer  flower.  The  external  antici¬ 
pation  is  at  first  in  control.  “The  Lord  himself,” 
he  writes  in  his  earliest  letter,  “will  descend  from 
heaven  with  a  loud  summons;  .  .  .  the  dead  in 
Christ  will  rise  first.”  4  By  degrees,  however, 
the  mind  of  Paul  wakes  from  these  materialized 

3  Rom.  viii.  2. 

4 1  Thess.  iv.  16. 


1 II  Thess.  ii.  3. 
2  Rom.  i.  16. 


146  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

dreams  into  the  consciousness  of  spiritual  com¬ 
munion,  and  the  better  world  is  looked  for,  not  in 
a  cosmic  catastrophe,  but  in  a  spiritual  common¬ 
wealth.  “The  Reign  of  God  is  not  a  matter  of 
eating  and  drinking,  it  means  righteousness,  joy, 
and  peace  in  the  holy  Spirit.”  1  The  new  Israel 
is  not  to  be  a  restored  nation,  but  a  sanctified 
church.  “Now  if  you  are  Christ’s,  then  you  are 
Abraham’s  offspring.”  2  Thus  the  hope  of  a 
millennial  future  is  gradually  merged  in  the  sense 
of  intimacy  with  the  Eternal,  until  finally,  in  the 
letter  to  the  Ephesians,  it  is  announced  that  God 
“has  granted  us  complete  insight  and  under¬ 
standing  of  the  open  secret  of  his  will,  showing  us 
how  it  was  the  purpose  of  his  design  so  to  order  it 
in  the  fulness  of  the  ages  that  all  things  in  heaven 
and  earth  alike  should  be  gathered  up  in  Christ.”  3 
The  millennial  expectation  is  thus  for  Paul  not  a 
place  of  rest,  but  a  point  of  departure.  Like  his 
other  intellectual  inheritances,  it  becomes  trans¬ 
formed  and  spiritualized  as  he  applies  it  to  the 
enrichment  of  his  own  faith. 

When  one  turns  from  these  influences  of  con¬ 
temporary  Judaism  which  affected  the  theology  of 
Paul,  and  observes  the  contact  of  his  mind  with 
the  ideas  and  traditions  of  the  Hellenic  world,  the 
same  gift  for  appropriation  and  assimilation  is  to 
be  observed.  The  process  indeed  proceeds  so  far 
that  the  new  faith  becomes  at  many  points  indis¬ 
tinguishable  from  the  cults  and  creeds  which  it 
supplants,  and  a  Palestinian  gospel  seems  trans- 

1  Rom.  xiv.  17.  2  Gal.  iii.  29.  3  Eph.  i.  9-1 1. 


THEOLOGY 


147 


formed  into  a  mystery-religion.  This  momentous 
transition  from  the  call  of  Jesus  to  repentance  to 
the  sacramental  cult  of  a  descending  Saviour  cer¬ 
tainly  presents,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  a 
perplexing  situation.  On  the  one  hand,  it  was  this 
bold  appropriation  of  the  mystery-religions  which 
rescued  the  new  faith  from  the  fate  of  a  Jewish 
sect,  and  gave  it  a  footing  in  the  Roman  world. 
“Christianity,”  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  modern  scholars  has  said,  “overcame  the  com¬ 
peting  religions  of  the  East,  because  it  Hellenized 
itself  more  thoroughly  than  they.”  1  The  cosmic 
drama  conceived  by  the  fertile  mind  of  Paul  as 
verifying  the  speculations  of  Oriental  mysticism 
has  survived  as  the  Christian  plan  of  salvation, 
and  has  become  formulated  in  many  Christian 
confessions.  On  the  other  hand,  this  sublime  con¬ 
ception, — this  descending  God,  this  redemptive 
sacrifice,  this  ritual  of  the  initiated, — which  has 
become  incorporated  in  elaborate  schemes  of 
Christian  theology,  was  in  its  origin  not  only 
very  different  from  the  plain  story  of  the  teaching 
of  Jesus,  but  in  large  part  derived  from  sources 
altogether  foreign  to  that  primitive  tradition.  It 
was  a  composite  creation,  a  work  of  genius,  trans¬ 
lating  a  Galilean  idyl  into  a  cosmic  drama.  Start¬ 
ling  in  its  novelty  as  such  a  teaching  may  have 
been  to  the  little  company  of  Palestinian  Chris¬ 
tians,  it  appealed  by  its  very  affinity  with  current 

1  Wilamowitz-Mollendorff,  “Die  griechische  Literatur  des  Al- 
tertums”  (Die  Kultur  der  Gegenwart  I.  viii.)  3  te  Aufl.  1912,  s. 
135* 


148  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

ideas  to  the  greater  audience  of  the  Roman 
world.1 

If,  then,  Paul’s  training  as  a  Jew  inclined  him  to 
fanciful  analogies,  to  imagine  the  world  beset  by 
daemons,  and  to  look  for  its  speedy  dissolution; 
and  if,  again,  his  contact  with  diversified  cults 
led  him  to  merge  the  simple  story  of  the  Gospels 
in  the  vast  conception  of  a  cosmic  mystery,  must 
not  his  theology  be  regarded  as  altogether  remote 
and  impracticable,  if  not  fictitious  and  grotesque? 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  precisely  when  one  thus 
recognizes  the  temporary  aspects  of  Paul’s  thought 
that  its  permanent  elements  become  most  impres¬ 
sive.  Through  the  inevitable  limitations  of  race, 
language,  and  philosophy,  from  which  the  modern 
world  has  in  the  main  detached  itself,  there  issue 
conceptions  of  God,  of  the  universe,  and  of  the 
“one  intermediary  between  God  and  men,  the 
man  Christ  Jesus,” 2  which  have  not  only  remained 
of  undiminished  reality,  but  meet  at  many  points 
with  peculiar  timeliness  the  needs  of  the  modern 

1Cf.  E.  Hatch,  “The  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages,” 
1892,  p.  350:  “I  venture  to  claim  to  have  shown  that  a  large 
part  of  what  are  sometimes  called  Christian  doctrines,  and  many 
usages  which  have  prevailed  and  continue  to  prevail  in  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Church,  are  in  reality  Greek  theories  and  Greek  usages 
changed  in  form  and  colour  by  the  influence  of  primitive  Chris¬ 
tianity,  but  in  their  essence  Greek  still.” 

W.  Bousset,  “Jesus  der  Herr,”  1916,  s.  62:  “I  cannot  see  how 
the  veneration  of  the  Lord,  sacraments,  and  the  impressive 
phenomena  of  pneumatic  ecstasy,  the  fundamental  characteris¬ 
tics  in  Christian  worship,  can  be  derived  from  the  synagogue.” 

2 1  Tim.  ii.  5. 


THEOLOGY 


149 


world.  An  American  scholar,  writing  of  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  Jesus,  has  lately  pointed  out  that  it  had 
two  elements,  which  appear  inconsistent  with 
each  other,  though  both  are  profoundly  true: 
“It  was  meant  to  be  the  standard  for  the  future 
kingdom  of  God,  but  ...  he  also  intended  his 
followers  to  live  by  those  principles  here  and  now.” 
In  other  words,  “the  Christian  is  to  live  as  though 
for  him  the  kingdom  of  God  had  come.”  1  Some¬ 
thing  of  the  same  twofold  character  is  to  be  ob¬ 
served  in  the  teaching  of  Paul.  His  theology  was 
composite,  Hebraic  and  Hellenic,  apocalyptic 
and  redemptive;  but  these  contemporary  influ¬ 
ences  could  not  overcome  the  sanity  of  his  mind. 
The  Christian  was  to  live  according  to  the  mind 
of  Christ.  Speculations  concerning  the  universe 
should  not  detach  him  from  the  simplicity  of 
Christian  obedience.  The  significance  of  Paul’s 
theology  is  realized,  not  as  one  concurs  in  his 
cosmic  anticipations,  but  as  one  penetrates  through 
these  forms  of  thought  to  the  experience  which 
they  are  designed  to  hold.  The  sense  of  an  ap¬ 
proaching  cataclysm  did  not  tempt  Paul,  as  it 
does  the  millenarians  of  the  modern  world,  to 
indifference  concerning  moral  reforms.  On  the 
contrary,  it  steadied  his  moral  code,  as  one  stiffens 
his  muscles  to  meet  an  approaching  storm.  The 
apocalyptic  drama  did  not  leave  him  ethically 
drowsy;  on  the  contrary,  he  woke  from  it  to  be 
ready  for  that  great  day  when  his  dream  might 

1 H.  J.  Cadbury,  “The  Social  Translation  of  the  Gospel,” 
Harv.  Theol.  Rev.,  Jan.  1922. 


150  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

come  true.  “The  Pauline  explanations  of  fact 
which  we  call  doctrine, 57  it  has  been  remarked, 
“had  elements  of  weakness,  but  in  the  perception 
of  fact  he  is  supreme.  .  .  .  He  sees  realities 
through  mere  temporary  phenomena.”  1 

The  permanent  element  thus  disclosed  in  Paul’s 
theology  meets  one,  first,  in  his  doctrine  of  God. 
He  had  inherited  the  legal  and  imperial  tradition 
of  Judaism.  Jehovah  had  issued  his  decrees  of 
personal  and  national  righteousness,  and  it  was 
for  man  to  accept  and  obey  them.  The  trans¬ 
forming  experience  of  Paul’s  conversion  opened 
his  eyes  to  quite  another  view  of  the  Divine  char¬ 
acter.  The  God  who  had  thus  revealed  Himself 
was  a  generous  and  persuasive  God,  anticipating 
man’s  obedience  by  a  Divine  initiative,  as  the 
father  of  the  prodigal  saw  his  son  a  long  way  off 
and  ran  with  parental  love  to  meet  him.  Out  of 
the  Psalms  and  Prophets  Paul  had  seized  on  one 
phrase  which  touched  this  deeper  note  and  ex¬ 
pressed  his  new  conviction.  His  God  was  a  “living 
God.”  His  soul  had  thirsted  for  the  living  God,2 
and  that  thirst  had  been  satisfied.  His  heart 
and  flesh  had  cried  out  for  the  living  God,3  and 
that  cry  had  been  not  only  heard  but  anticipated. 
“The  gospel  we  are  preaching  to  you,”  Paul  is 
reported  as  saying  at  Lystra,  “is  to  turn  from 
such  futile  ways  to  the  living  God.”  4  His  mes¬ 
sage  was,  he  said,  that  of  Hosea:  “There  shall 

1  Percy  Gardner,  “The  Religious  Experience  of  St.  Paul,”  1911, 
p.  230. 

2  Ps.  xlii.  2.  3  Ps.  lxxxiv.  2.  4  Acts  xiv.  15;  cf.  I  Thess.  i.  9. 


THEOLOGY 


151 


they  be  called  ‘sons  of  the  living  God.’  ”  1  He  had, 
in  short,  found  a  God  who  cared  for  men, — “the 
God  of  all  comfort,  who  comforts  me  in  all  my 
distress.”  2  The  same  God  who  had  said,  “Light 
shall  shine  out  of  darkness,” 3  had  shone  into 
his  heart.  God’s  government  was  not  remote  and 
imperial;  it  was  intimate  and  individualized. 
“For  us  there  is  one  God,  the  Father,  from  whom 
all  comes,  and  for  whom  we  exist.”  4 

This  antecedent  and  unearned  generosity  of  God 
involved  for  Paul  a  new  understanding  of  the 
very  nature  of  religion.  What  he  had  discovered 
was  not  so  much  the  solution  of  a  problem  as  the 
offer  of  a  gift.  No  word  is  more  repeatedly  on  his 
lips  than  the  word  Grace.  “By  God’s  grace  I 
am  what  I  am;  .  .  .  not  I  but  God’s  grace  at  my 
side.”  5  “Through  him  we  have  got  access  to  this 
grace.” 6  Here  was  a  new  chronology  of  the 
religious  life, — first,  the  condescending  and  pre- 
venient  grace  of  God,  “the  surpassing  grace  which 
God  has  shown,”  7  and  then  the  welcome  of  this 
gift  by  the  receptive  will;  first  the  call  of  God  and 
then  the  answer  of  man ;  first,  the  descending  reve¬ 
lation  and  then  the  ascending  faith.  “You  know 
God,”  Paul  writes  to  the  Galatians,  and  then,  as 
though  he  corrected  himself,  adds,  “or  rather,  are 
known  by  God.”  8  Antecedent  to  the  knowledge 
of  God  was  the  assurance  that  one  is  known  of 


1Rom.  ix.  26;  Hosea  i.  io. 

2 II  Cor.  i.  3-4. 

3 II  Cor.  iv.  6;  cf.  Gen.  i.  3. 

4 1  Cor.  viii.  6;  cf.  Mai.  ii.  10. 


5 1  Cor.  xv.  10. 
6  Rom.  v.  2. 

7 II  Cor.  ix.  14. 
8  Gal.  iv.  9. 


152  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Him.  Round  about  one’s  ignorance  was  the 
fortifying  sense  that  one  is  not  alone,  but  is  sought 
for  by  the  grace  of  God. 

This  intimacy  with  a  living  God  is  so  complete 
and  confident  in  Paul  that  he  boldly  calls  it  an 
“Adoption,”  as  of  a  father  adopting  a  son.  “You 
have  received  the  Spirit  of  sonship.”  1  “He  chose 
us  ...  ,  destining  us  in  love  to  be  his  sons.”  2 
It  is  as  though  a  child  had  been  lost  and  were 
adopted  in  a  kindly  home.  Paul’s  theology,  in  a 
word,  begins,  not  with  man’s  search  for  God,  but 
with  God’s  search  for  man.  We  think  God’s 
thoughts  after  Him.  This  spiritual  chronology 
distinguishes  Paul’s  teaching  from  all  contemporary 
forms  of  philosophical  speculation,  and  gives  it  a 
place  among  the  great  confessions  of  the  religious 
life.  There  is,  as  Schleiermacher  reaffirmed,  no 
other  starting  point  for  religious  experience  than 
in  this  sense  of  dependence.  The  only  wise  the¬ 
ologian  is  he  who  knows,  first  of  all,  that  God  knows 
him.3 

But  does  not  this  exalted  theism  encounter  a 

1  Rom.  viii.  15. 

2  Eph.  i.  4-5. 

3  Cf.  J.  Weiss,  “Die  Bedeutung  des  Paulus  fiir  den  modemen 
Christen,”  in  Zeitschrift  fiir  die  N.  T.  Wissenschaft,  1919-20, 
s.  136.  “This  conception  of  God  as  Will,  conscious  of  the  intent 
to  lead  us  to  perfect  holiness,  purity,  and  godliness,  is  the  perma¬ 
nent  result  of  the  religious  experience  and  thought  of  Paul,  and 
so  far  as  one  can  define  Christianity  this  obnviction  must  be  in 
some  degree  present.  Indeed,  one  may  even  say  that  wherever 
the  faith  exists  that  this  is  the  meaning  and  the  goal  of  events, 
there  Christianity  as  St.  Paul  understood  it  still  exists.” 


THEOLOGY 


153 


new  moral  danger?  Does  not  this  absolute  sov¬ 
ereignty  of  God,  with  its  compelling  initiative, 
threaten  the  freedom  of  the  human  will,  so  that 
faith  may  become  indistinguishable  from  fatalism? 
Such  was  the  peril  encountered  by  Calvin  in  his 
doctrine  of  decrees.  “The  Divine  will,”  he  teaches, 
“is  the  cause  of  everything  that  exists.  .  .  . 
The  will  of  God  is  the  highest  rule  of  justice,  so 
that  what  he  wills  must  be  considered  just,  for 
this  very  reason,  because  he  wills  it.  When  it  is 
asked  why  the  Lord  did  so,  the  answer  must  be, 
‘Because  he  willed  it.’” 1  The  same  startling 
proposition  is  repeated  in  the  Westminster  Con¬ 
fession:  “God  from  all  eternity  did,  by  the  most 
wise  and  holy  counsel  of  his  own  will,  freely  and 
unchangeably  ordain  whatever  comes  to  pass.  .  .  . 
By  the  decree  of  God,  for  the  manifestation  of  his 
glory,  some  men  and  angels  are  predestined  unto 
everlasting  life,  and  others  foreordained  to  ever¬ 
lasting  death.”  2  It  was  an  astonishing  inference 
from  Paul’s  great  proclamation  of  the  “glorious 
freedom  of  the  children  of  God,”  3  and  his  sublime 
assurance  that  “those  who  love  God,  those  who 
have  been  called  in  terms  of  his  purpose,  have  his 
aid  and  interest  in  everything.”  4  The  Institutes 
of  Calvin  were  primarily  concerned  with  the 
interpretation  of  God’s  will  for  man;  the  letters 
of  Paul,  on  the  other  hand,  were  primarily  con¬ 
cerned  with  the  dedication  of  man’s  will  to  God. 
It  is  for  the  conduct  of  this  life  that,  according  to 

1  “Institutes,”  Book  iii.  ch.  23,  Sec.  2. 

2  Ed.  1647,  Ch.  iii.  1,  3. 


3  Rom.  viii.  21. 

4  Rom.  viii.  28. 


154  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Paul,  God  calls  those  whom  He  has  decreed,  and 
justifies  those  whom  He  has  called.  Each  task 
now  fulfilled  is  an  answer  to  God’s  call;  each  life 
is  a  vocation.  God’s  purpose  will  be  fulfilled, 
through  man,  if  he  will,  but  in  spite  of  man,  if  he 
resist.  There  is  to  Paul  no  contradiction  between 
the  affirmation,  “By  grace  you  have  been  saved, 
as  you  had  faith;  it  is  not  your  doing  but  God’s 
gift,”  1  and  the  opposite  declaration,  “Work  all 
the  more  strenuously  at  your  salvation.”  2  The 
one  teaching  is  written,  Paul  says,  “that  no  person 
may  boast  in  the  sight  of  God;”  3  the  other  reen¬ 
forces  resolution  with  the  assurance,  “  It  is  God  who 
in  his  good  will  enables  you  to  will  this  and  to 
achieve  it.”  4  Each  life,  that  is  to  say,  has  its  place 
in  the  Divine  order.  Each  nation  has  its  part  in 
God’s  plan.  Each  righteous  act  is  suggested  by 
the  Divine  initiative.  Conduct  becomes  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  faith;  ethics  is  merged  in  religion;  until, 
in  Paul’s  bold  phrase,  we  may  “become  the  right¬ 
eousness  of  God.” 5  Through  glad  cooperation 
with  the  Divine  will,  but  not  less  surely  through 
human  resistance  or  defeat,  the  great  design  of  the 
living  God  is  to  be  fulfilled,  His  kingdom  established 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  and  His  children  finally 
conformed  to  the  image  of  His  son.  This  is  not 
Paulinism  only;  it  is  rational  religion.  The  dis¬ 
tinction  of  religion  from  morality  is  in  this  con¬ 
scious  participation  with  the  universal  order. 
“We  work  together  in  God’s  service;”  6 — 

1  Eph.  ii.  8.  3 1  Cor.  i.  29.  5 II  Cor.  v.  21. 

2  Phil.  ii.  12.  4  Phil.  ii.  13.  6 1  Cor.  iii.  9. 


THEOLOGY  1 55 

that  is  the  summary  of  all  reasonable  religious 
faith. 

From  this  point  of  association  with  the  Eternal 
Purpose  Paul’s  theism  advances  until  it  antici¬ 
pates  much  which  might  seem  to  be  the  peculiar 
possession  of  modern  thought.  When,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  Tennyson  concludes  his  “  In  Memoriam  ” 
with  the  confession: 

“That  God,  which  ever  lives  and  loves, 

One  God,  one  law,  one  element, 

And  one  far-off  divine  event, 

To  which  the  whole  creation  moves,” 

he  is  but  repeating  the  assurance  of  Paul  that 
“the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by 
the  things  that  are  made.”  1  Or  when,  again, 
a  modern  philosopher  defends  the  teleological  in¬ 
terpretation  of  the  universe,  or  a  modern  moral¬ 
ist  describes  his  system  of  evolutionary  ethics, 
he  is  but  reproducing  the  teaching  of  Paul  that 
“to  this  day  .  .  .  the  entire  creation  sighs  and 
throbs  with  pain;  and  not  only  so,  but  even 
we  ourselves,  who  have  the  Spirit  as  a  foretaste  of 
the  future,  even  we  sigh  to  ourselves  as  we  wait 
for  the  redemption  of  the  body  that  means  our 
full  sonship.”  2 

With  frequent  reiteration,  as  though  always  in 
the  background  of  his  mind,  and  emerging  to 
satisfy  special  needs,  this  spiritual  interpretation 
of  life  and  history  dominates  the  thought  of 
Paul.  He  undertakes,  for  instance,  a  series  of 
1  Rom.  i.  20  A.  V.  2  Rom.  viii.  22-23. 


156  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

subtle  reflections  on  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the 
world,  and  how  it  was  that  death  reigned  from 
Adam  to  Moses,1 — problems  which  the  modern 
world  can  hardly  regard  with  seriousness;  but 
these  reflections  on  Hebrew  history  are  abruptly 
displaced  by  the  confident  affirmations  of  a  moral 
evolutionist,  and  the  assurance  that  “the  creation 
waits  with  eager  longing  for  the  sons  of  God  to  be 
revealed.”  2  Paul’s  own  experience  becomes  inter¬ 
preted  under  the  same  general  law.  “Not  that  I 
have  already  attained,”  he  says;  “my  one  thought 
is,  by  forgetting  what  lies  behind  me,  ...  to 
press  on  to  the  goal  for  the  prize  of  God’s  high  call 
in  Christ  Jesus.”  3  The  same  comprehensive  faith 
reappears  in  the  great  declaration  of  missionary 
intention  which  is  reported  in  the  Book  of  Acts. 
Speaking  to  the  men  of  Athens,  “a  most  religious 
people,”  worshipping  “an  unknown  God,”  he 
assures  them  that  the  Universal  Purpose  reveals 
itself  in  all  devout  aspirations  and  all  diversities 
of  worship.  “All  nations  he  has  created  from  a 
common  origin,  to  dwell  all  over  the  earth  .  .  . 
meaning  them  to  seek  for  God.  .  .  .  Though 
indeed  he  is  close  to  each  one  of  us,  for  it  is  in  him 
that  we  live  and  move  and  exist.”  4 

Nor  is  even  this  the  final  statement  of  Paul’s 
doctrine  of  the  living  God.  As  his  missionary 
activity  slackens,  and  his  mind  yields  itself  to 
calmer  reflection  on  the  nature  of  the  religious 
life,  this  controlling  sense  of  the  life  of  God  as 

1  Rom.  v.  12-14.  3  Phil.  iii.  12-14. 

2  Rom.  viii.  19.  4  Acts  xvii.  26-28. 


THEOLOGY 


157 


“ close  to  each  one  of  us/’  or,  as  Brother  Lawrence 
later  called  it,  this  “practice  of  the  presence  of 
God,” — grows  more  controlling  and  sufficient, 
until  Paul,  the  disputant,  the  conciliator,  the 
emancipator,  becomes  Paul  the  mystic,  confident 
that  his  mission  will  be  accomplished  if  he  may 
“enlighten  all  men  upon  the  new  order  of  that 
divine  secret  which  God  the  Creator  of  all  con¬ 
cealed  from  eternity.”  1  This  attitude  of  sheer 
acceptance,  or  as  a  modern  Friend  would  describe 
it,  this  “surrender  of  silence,”  was  not,  it  is  true, 
wholly  reserved  for  Paul’s  later  years.  His  con¬ 
version  itself  had  in  it  the  marks  of  the  mystic’s 
experience,  and  he  records  other  moments  of 
similar  rapture.  “I  know  a  man  in  Christ,”  he 
says  of  himself,  “who  fourteen  years  ago  was 
caught  up  to  the  third  heaven  .  .  .  and  heard 
sacred  secrets  which  no  human  lips  can  repeat.”  2 
By  degrees,  however,  this  sense  of  complete  suffi¬ 
ciency  in  the  mystical  experience  becomes  more 
habitual,  and  Paul’s  language  becomes  more  and 
more  that  of  exaltation  and  illumination  through 
the  new  discipleship.  “Your  life,”  he  writes  to 
the  Colossians,  “is  hidden  with  Christ  in  God.”  3 
The  unio  mystica  has  become  to  him  a  satisfying 
solution  of  the  problem  of  life.  The  sources  of  his 
spiritual  authority  are  not  external  or  historical, 
but  intimate,  immediate,  hidden,  an  acceptance 
of  the  life  of  God  by  the  soul  of  man.4 

1  Eph.  iii.  9.  2 II  Cor.  xii.  2-4.  3  Col.  iii.  3. 

4  Cf.  Evelyn  Underhill,  “The  Mystic  Way,”  1913,  pp.  180  ff. 
So,  J.  M.  Campbell,  “Paul  the  Mystic,”  1907.  - 


158  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


Such  was  the  habit  of  mind  which  gave  form  and 
beauty  to  Paul’s  theism.  Nothing  could  be  more 
remote  from  the  procedure  of  a  consistent  and 
logical  theologian.  There  is  less  of  Calvin  than 
of  Spinoza  in  Paul,  more  of  St.  Augustine’s  “  Con¬ 
fessions  ”  than  of  St.  Augustine’s  controversy  with 
Donatists  and  Pelagians.  Paul,  in  his  most  char¬ 
acteristic  mood,  is  the  forerunner  of  that  great 
company  of  mystics  who  have  found  God,  without 
mediation  of  creed  or  cult,  through  direct  com¬ 
munion  and  spiritual  insight.  “The  gospel  that 
I  preach,”  said  Paul,  in  words  which  might  have 
been  spoken  by  Tauler  or  George  Fox,  “is  not  a 
human  affair;  no  man  put  it  into  my  hands;  no 
man  taught  me  what  it  meant,  I  had  it  by  reve¬ 
lation  of  Jesus  Christ.”  1 
At  this  point,  however,  is  disclosed  a  further 
element  in  Paul’s  theology  which  gives  it  an  un¬ 
precedented  character.  This  sense  of  intimacy 
with  the  living  God,  from  which  he  derives  his 
confidence  and  courage,  has  been  attained,  not 
through  a  process  of  reasoning  such  as  might  sat¬ 
isfy  a  modern  theologian,  nor  yet  through  direct 

1  Gal.  i.  11-12.  In  a  personal  letter,  quotation  from  which  is 
permitted,  Principal  L.  P.  Jacks  writes:  “Paul  seems  to  me  to 
have  combined  the  last  insight  of  Jesus  with  the  Platonic  vision 
of  the  redeemed  creation  (by  no  means  the  human  race  alone),  and 
the  resurrection-life  of  the  city  in  heaven,  apprehended  as  a  real, 
near,  ever  present  fact,  thinly  veiled  under  the  ‘seen  and  tem¬ 
poral.’  Thus  Paul,  as  I  understand  him,  preached  the  gospel  of 
the  universal  transfiguration,  which  as  a  Platonist  I  have  believed 
in  for  years,  and  in  the  light  of  which  alone  I  can  find  any  meaning 
in  the  saying  that  our  light  afflictions  are  but  for  a  moment.’* 


THEOLOGY 


159 


communion  with  God  such  as  the  modern  mystic 
claims,  but  by  the  transforming  fact  of  a  single 
spiritual  experience,  which  has  opened  his  eyes 
to  see  the  design  of  God  for  man.  All  that  Paul 
knows  of  the  Eternal  Purpose  he  has  come  to 
know  through  “faith  in  Christ”  and  the  “power 
of  his  resurrection.”1  Paul’s  theology  is  essen¬ 
tially  a  Christology.  His  theism  is  an  answer  to 
“that  open  secret  which,  though  concealed  from 
ages  and  generations  of  old,  has  now  been  dis¬ 
closed  to  the  saints  of  God  ...  in  the  fact  of 
Christ’s  presence  among  you  as  your  hope  of 
glory.”  2  Here  is  no  mere  personal  loyalty,  such 
as  the  Gospels  inculcate,  nor  the  unmediated 
mysticism  which  satisfies  many  modern  minds, 
but  a  new  mystery-religion,  a  “transfiguration  of 
the  Gospel.”  “The  disciple  clothes  the  message  of 
the  Master  in  the  forms  of  the  Hellenistic  religions 
of  personal  redemption  whose  atmosphere  had 
surrounded  him  from  boyhood,  and  whose  phrase¬ 
ology  was  current  coin  within  the  Gentile  world  to 
which  he  preached.”  He  uses  “  the  very  vernacular 
of  the  mystery-cults,”  3— “that  hidden  wisdom,” 
“the  mysterious  wisdom  of  God,”  4  “God’s  secret 
purpose.” 5  To  be  “crucified  with  Christ,” 6 
to  be  “baptized  into  his  death,”7 — phrases  like 
these  could  have  significance  only  to  those  who 

1  Phil.  iii.  9,  10. 

2  Col.  i.  26-27. 

3  Bacon,  “Jesus  and  Paul,”  1921,  pp.  53,  58,  75. 

4 1  Cor.  ii.  7.  6  Gal.  ii.  20. 

6 1  Cor.  ii.  1.  7  Rom.  vi.  3. 


l6o  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


had  been  antecedently  familiar  with  similar  be¬ 
liefs. 

Yet  this  exaltation  of  Christ  as  conceived  by 
Paul  does  not  reach  the  point  at  which  the  Church 
was  soon  to  arrive.  The  deity  of  Christ  is  not  a 
Pauline  doctrine.  “A  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews” 
could  not  depart  so  far  as  this  from  his  faith  in 
the  “one  God,  the  Father,  from  whom  all  comes, 
and  for  whom  we  exist.”  1  Paul’s  monotheism  is 
consistent  and  reiterated.  “Blessed  forevermore 
be  the  God  who  is  over  all,”  2  he  says  in  a  much 
debated  passage;  and  again  to  the  Philippians, 
“Every  tongue  [shall]  confess  that  ‘Jesus  Christ 
is  Lord,’  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.”  3  God, 
to  Paul,  is  the  transcendent  source;  Christ  is  the 
intermediary  agent.  Thus  Paul’s  Christ  is  at 
once  exalted  and  subordinated.  He  is  “the  first¬ 
born  of  a  great  brotherhood.”  4  A  new  title  is 
applied  to  him;  he  is  the  “Lord”  (. Kurios ). 
It  was  a  term  familiar  in  mystery- worship,  applied 
to  the  gods  of  Egypt  and  Asia  Minor,  and  even 
assumed  by  Roman  Emperors  as  indicating  their 
divine  rights;  yet  the  title,  though  it  justified 
divine  attributes,  did  not  imply  Deity  itself. 
“  The  more  exalted  the  idea  of  the  supreme  deity, 
the  more  need  was  felt  of  some  intermediary  be¬ 
tween  Him  and  the  world  of  creation  and  provi- 

1 1  Cor.  viii.  6.  2  Rom.  ix.  5. 

3  Phil.  ii.  11.  Cf.  Juncker,  “Die  Ethik  des  Apostels  Paulus,” 

II,  1919,  s.  1.  “Of  the  monotheistic  character  of  Paul’s  religion 
no  doubt  is  possible.  (Rom.  iii.  29  f.;  xi.  36;  I  Cor.  viii.  4  f.)” 

4  Rom.  viii.  29. 


THEOLOGY 


161 


dence.  Such  divinity  did  not  conflict  with  mono¬ 
theism. ’’  1  The  mission  of  Christ  will  be  at  last 
fulfilled,  and  “the  Son  himself  will  be  put  under 
Him  who  put  everything  under  him  so  that  God 
may  be  everything  to  everyone.”  2 

1  G.  F.  Moore,  “History  of  Religions,”  II.  126. 

2 1  Cor.  xv.  28.  Cf.  C.  H.  Toy,  “Judaism  and  Christianity,” 
1890,  p.  429:  “The  Lord  Jesus  is  thought  of  as  sitting  on  the  right 
hand  of  God  and  controlling  the  destinies  of  men.  .  .  .  Yet  on  the 
dogmatic  side  this  exaltation  of  Jesus  is  always  in  the  Pauline  period 
distinguished  from  deification.”  So  Bousset,  “Kyrios  Christos,” 
1913,  s.  185:  “Of  the  deity  of  Christ  it  cannot  be  affirmed  that 
Paul  speaks.  He  obviously  avoided  the  word  God  (0eos).  .  .  He 
speaks  without  reserve  of  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  He  defines  God  as  ‘the  head  of  Christ,  as  Christ  is  the 
head  of  man’  (I  Cor.  xi.  3);  and  subordinates  Christ  to  God,  as  the 
Church  is  subordinated  to  Christ  (I  Cor.  iii.  22  f.).  .  .  And  yet  the 
dogma  of  the  deity  of  Christ  is  on  its  way  (auf  dem  Marsch ).  .  .  . 
Though  Paul  may  follow  his  Hebrew  instincts,  and  avoid  predicat¬ 
ing  the  deity  of  Christ,  and  maintain  the  distinction  between 
6eos  and  KvpLOs,  popular  faith  would  easily  pass  by  these  trouble¬ 
some  differences  and  openly  affirm  the  great  mystery  of  the  deity 
of  Christ,  setting  it  in  the  centre  of  the  Christian  religion.”  Cf. 
Morgan,  op.  cit.,  p.  53  ff.:  “One  obvious  way  of  safeguarding 
monotheism  was  to  insist  on  Christ’s  subordination  to  the  Father, 
and  this  Paul  consistently  does.  Nowhere  does  he  call  him  God. 
Not  till  a  later  day  did  the  Church  cast  aside  this  reserve.” 

Mr.  Gladstone,  in  a  surprising  paragraph  of  his  “Proem  to 
Genesis,”  reaches  a  still  more  sweeping  conclusion:  “It  may  be  we 
shall  find  that  Christianity  itself  is  in  some  sort  a  scaffolding,  and 
that  the  final  building  is  a  pure  and  perfect  theism,  when  the 
kingdom  shall  be  ‘delivered  up  to  God,’  ‘that  God  may  be  all  in 
all.’”  “Gleanings  of  Past  Years,”  1898,  VIII.  p.  72.  It  is  char¬ 
acteristic  of  this  distinguished  author  that  he  proceeds  in  a  foot¬ 
note  to  add:  “My  intention  was  simply  to  conform  to  the  declara¬ 
tion  of  St.  Paul.  Whatever  may  go  beyond  that,  I  disavow  and 
retract.” 


162  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


Yet,  though  Paul  does  not  consciously  abandon 
his  inherited  monotheism,  the  tide  of  his  emotional 
loyalty  sweeps  him  higher  and  higher  in  waves  of 
mystical  utterance.  In  Christ  is  the  visible  demon¬ 
stration  of  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man;  in 
Christ  is  the  human  manifestation  of  God’s  eternal 
purpose;  the  grace  of  God  is  manifested  in  the 
person  of  Christ.  The  Christology  of  Paul  does 
not  reach  the  high-water  mark  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel,  but  it  rises  toward  that  sublime  conception 
of  a  descending  Logos ,  which  “  became  flesh  and 
tarried  among  us,”  with  a  “ glory  such  as  an  only 
son  enjoys  from  his  father.”  1  The  Fourth  Gospel 
is  a  logical  corollary  of  Paulinism.2 

There  is  still  another  phase  of  this  exaltation  of 
Christ  in  the  thought  of  Paul.  As  his  mysticism 

1  John  i.  14. 

2  Cf.  Lake,  “Landmarks  in  the  History  of  Early  Christianity,” 
1920,  pp.  120  ff.  “This  is  especially  true  of  the  later  Epistles. 
In  them,  as  distinct  from  the  earlier  Epistles,  we  have  a  cosmical 
Christology  which  regards  Christ  as  a  pre-existent  divine  person 
who  became  a  human  being.  .  .  .  An  identification  of  this  pre¬ 
existent  being  with  the  Logos  of  the  philosopher  was  gradually 
approached  in  the  later  Epistles,  and  finally  made  in  the  Prologue 
to  the  Fourth  Gospel.” 

Cf.,  also,  a  letter  of  T.  T.  Munger,  in  W.  S.  Rainsford,  “The 
Story  of  a  Varied  Life,”  1922,  p.  375:  “St.  Paul  hit  the  matter 
exactly  when  he  said  that  ‘Henceforth  I  know  Christ  no  more 
after  the  flesh.’  Christ  became  a  spiritual  fact  and  force  to  him. 
I  verily  believe  that  in  his  higher  and  more  spiritual  moods,  the 
outward  realities  and  verities  of  Christ’s  life  vanished,  and  the 
spiritual  realities  and  verities  that  lay  behind  the  forms  became 
the  only  things  he  regarded.  It  is  not  a  new  experience,  but  it  is 
repeated  in  every  man  that  finds  himself.” 


THEOLOGY 


163 

becomes  more  explicit,  and  his  sense  of  Divine 
communion  more  controlling,  the  spirit  of  God 
which  illuminates  and  guides  his  life  becomes 
more  and  more  identified  with  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
What  was  at  first  accepted  as  a  revelation  of  Jesus 
becomes  merged  in  the  consciousness  of  God,  until, 
in  Paul’s  later  utterances,  no  clear  distinction 
is  made  between  what  the  Church  later  defined 
as  the  Holy  Spirit  and  what  Paul  accepts  as  the 
spirit  of  Christ.1  “You  are  in  the  Spirit,”  he  says 
to  the  Romans,  “since  the  Spirit  of  God  dwells 
within  you;”  but  immediately  adds,  “anyone 
who  does  not  possess  the  spirit  of  Christ  does  not 
belong  to  Him.”  2  “There  are,”  he  says  to  the 
Corinthians,  “the  same  Spirit  .  .  .  the  same 
Lord  .  .  .  the  same  God  who  effects  everything 
in  everyone.”  3 

This  identification  of  Christ  with  the  Spirit 
of  God 4  involves,  however,  a  further  doctrinal 
position,  which  is  by  no  means  that  of  the 
later  Church.  If  in  one  aspect  Paul  falls  short 
of  later  orthodoxy,  in  another  he  exceeds  it.  On 
the  one  hand,  his  Christ  is  less  than  God;  on  the 
other  hand,  this  supernatural  Christ  has  forfeited 
his  nature  as  man.  There  is  little  left  of  the 
humanity  of  Jesus  in  the  Pauline  Christ.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  reproduce  from  the  Epistles  the 
story  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Of  the  teaching  of 

1 II  Cor.  iii.  17.  2  Rom.  viii.  9 .  3 1  Cor.  xii.  4-6. 

4  So  Troeltsch,  “  Die  Soziallehren  der  christlichen  Kirchen  und 
Gruppen,”  1912,  s.  59.  “Mit  dem  Gottesgeist  identischen 
Pneuma-Christus.” 


1 64  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Jesus,  his  healing,  his  acceptance  of  publicans 
and  sinners,  his  prayers,  his  agony  in  Gethsemane, 
there  is  scarcely  an  intimation  in  the  Epistles  of 
Paul.  Only  once  do  Paul’s  letters  directly  quote  a 
saying  of  Jesus.1  Only  twice,  and  in  merely  inci¬ 
dental  relations,  do  they  cite  the  Lord’s  authority 
— once  concerning  marital  desertion,2  and  again 
to  justify  the  support  of  preachers.3  The  spiritual 
insight,  the  ethical  maxims,  the  exquisite  parables, 
the  intimate  communion  of  Jesus  with  his  Father, 
the  vision  of  the  Kingdom — all  these,  which  give 
their  peculiar  charm  to  the  Gospels,  and  which 
for  a  great  proportion  of  modern  Christians  have 
become  the  basis  of  discipleship,  are  of  slight 
concern  to  Paul,  compared  with  the  cosmic  scheme 
which  absorbs  his  mind.  The  Cross  has  become, 
not  the  end,  but  the  beginning  of  the  mission  of 
Jesus.  It  stands  for  Paul  at  the  centre  of  the 
entire  history  of  the  human  race.  Christ’s  life  in 
the  flesh  is  “an  episode  between  a  life  in  glory 
before  his  birth  and  a  life  in  glory  after  his  death.”  4 
It  is  not  the  human  life  of  Jesus  which  has  sug¬ 
gested  this  majestic  conception;  it  is  the  product 
of  what  the  apostle  calls  a  “  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ.”  5 

So  completely  transcendental  and  unhistorical  a 
Christology  was  not  likely  to  satisfy  the  mind  of 

1 1  Cor.  xi.  24-25. 

2 1  Cor.  vii.  io-ii. 

3 1  Cor.  ix.  14. 

4  E.  Caird,  “The  Evolution  of  Religion,”  1893,  II.  214. 

6  Gal.  i.  12. 


THEOLOGY 


165 

the  Church  when  the  unstudied  simplicity  of  the 
Gospels  became  again  appealing;  and  it  was  in¬ 
evitable  that  these  cosmic  conceptions  of  Paul 
should  be  supplanted  by  a  renewed  emphasis  on 
the  humanity  of  Christ.  Instead  of  anticipating 
the  creeds  of  the  church,  Paul’s  teaching  thus 
became  displaced  by  them;  and  a  series  of  stately 
affirmations  announced,  as  of  the  essence  of  the 
faith,  that  Jesus  was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  suffered  under  Pontius 
Pilate.  Thus  the  complete  preoccupation  of  Paul’s 
mind  by  the  thought  of  the  risen  Christ  had  the 
startling  result  of  making  the  apostle,  not  so  much 
a  Father  of  the  early  Church,  as  an  alien  in  it. 
The  catholic  creeds  were  corrective,  rather  than 
confirmatory,  of  Paul;  and  the  figure  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  restored  to  history,  instead  of  being 
little  more  than  a  shadow  cast  by  the  approaching 
Christ. 

If,  then,  it  be  true  that  Paul’s  Christology  at  one 
point  falls  short  of  orthodoxy  as  later  defined,  it 
is  not  less  true  that  it  departs  from  the  same 
orthodoxy  again  through  its  very  reverence  for 
the  person  of  Christ.  The  sweep  of  Paul’s  adora¬ 
tion  bears  him  quite  beyond  what  the  Church 
later  formulated  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
and  he  conceives  rather  a  duality  of  operation, — 
“one  God,  the  Father,  from  whom  all  comes,  and 
for  whom  we  exist,”  and  “one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ, 
by  whom  all  exists,  and  by  whom  we  exist.”  1 
“In  Christ  the  entire  Fulness  of  deity  has  settled 

1 1  Cor.  viii.  6. 


1 66  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


bodily.”  1  The  unity  of  Divine  love  is  manifested 
in  a  duality  of  Divine  care.  In  a  single  paragraph, 
Paul  writes  that  nothing  “in  all  creation  will  be  able 
to  part  us  from  God’s  love,”  2  and  again,  “What 
can  ever  part  us  from  Christ’s  love?  ”  3  Thus  the 
apostle,  “in  transferring  to  the  exalted  Christ  the 
function  of  the  Spirit,  in  effect  merges  the  latter 
in  the  former.  Nowhere  in  his  speculative  thought 
does  he  contemplate  more  than  a  duality.”  4 
It  must  be  admitted  that  something  of  this 
merging  of  functions  practically  occurs  in  much 
modern  thinking  about  the  nature  of  God  and 
Christ.  The  second  person  of  the  Trinity  has 
become  for  the  great  majority  of  Christians  a 
clearly  defined  object  of  reverence  and  prayer, 
while  the  place  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  a  distinct 
person  in  the  Divine  unity,  has  remained  com¬ 
paratively  undetermined  and  vague.  To  many 
minds,  this  aspect  of  Deity  is  but  another  title 
for  the  immediate  activity  of  God  the  Father,  or 
what  Paul  might  call  “the  living  God.”  To  others, 
the  Holy  Spirit  has  become,  as  with  Paul,  prac¬ 
tically  identified  with  the  permanent  influence 
and  inspiration  of  the  glorified  Christ.  In  either 
case,  the  resulting  belief  is  not  in  strict  conformity 
with  the  generally  accepted  creeds.  A  duality  in 
God,  rather  than  a  trinity,  is  affirmed.  Thus  the 
Pauline  definition  is  not  without  risk  of  com¬ 
mitting  that  theological  sin  which  the  Athanasian 
Creed  calls  “confounding  the  persons  and  dividing 

1  Col.  ii.  g.  3  Rom.  viii.  35. 

2  Rom.  viii.  39.  4  Morgan,  op.  cit.,  p.  65. 


THEOLOGY 


167 


the  substance,”  and  concerning  which  it  assures 
the  sinner  that  “without  doubt  he  shall  perish 
everlastingly.”  The  same  ecclesiastical  condem¬ 
nation  might  not  unreasonably  be  applied  to  the 
sublime  Christology  of  Paul  himself,  and  the 
verdict,  “Whosoever  will  be  saved,  before  all 
things,  it  is  necessary  that  he  hold  the  Catholic 
faith,”  might  exclude  from  hope  the  great  apostle 
of  salvation. 

Such,  in  brief  and  imperfect  outline,  was  the 
first  attempt  to  construct  a  theology  out  of  the 
Christian  tradition.  It  was  the  daring  achievement 
of  a  speculative  genius,  using  the  forms  of  current 
thought  but  filling  these  familiar  conceptions  with 
novel  and  illuminating  meaning.  Out  of  a  Pales¬ 
tinian  memory  it  made  a  hope  for  the  world; 
out  of  a  religion  of  loyalty  it  made  a  religion  of 
redemption.  “The  secret  purpose  .  .  .  after  the 
silence  of  long  ages  has  now  been  disclosed.”  1 
The  cosmic  drama,  in  which  the  plan  of  God  for 
the  world  was  unfolded,  had  reached  its  culminat¬ 
ing  act  in  the  victory  of  Christ  over  sin  and  death.2 

The  first  impression  made  on  a  modern  mind  by 
this  vast  scheme  may  well  be  one  of  remoteness, 
if  not  of  unreality.  Audacious  and  magnificent 
as  it  is,  both  its  language  and  its  thought  are  of  an 
ancient  world.  The  war  with  daemons,  the  hope- 

1  Rom.  xvi.  25-26. 

2  So  Bousset,  “  Jesus  der  Herr,”  1916,  s.  38:  “My  entire  argu¬ 
ment  is  directed  to  show,  that  the  Christian  reverence  for  its 
‘Lord’  is  derived  not  from  a  single  cult,  but  from  the  general 
environment  of  the  Hellenistic  world.” 


1 68  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

lessness  and  wretchedness  of  “the  present  evil 
world,”  1  of  which  they  are  the  rulers;  the  descent  of 
Christ  into  the  scene  of  conflict;  the  emptying  of 
himself  of  his  celestial  nature  in  accepting  the 
human  form,  and  the  sharing  by  the  believer  of 
his  glory,  so  that  we  may  say  that  he  “  becomes 
what  we  are,  that  we  through  his  death  may 
become  what  he  is”  2 — all  this  sublime  plan,  with 
its  background  of  human  helplessness  and  its 
issue  in  a  dramatic  deliverance,  is  not  only  difficult 
to  harmonize  with  a  modern  view  of  nature  or 
character,  but  even  difficult  to  understand;  and 
it  is  not  surprising  that  it  has  encouraged  those 
expectant  literalists  who  see  in  the  social  and  po¬ 
litical  darkness  of  the  present  time  the  unmis¬ 
takable  signs  of  an  immediate  return  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  to  judge  the  earth. 

Yet  while  this  cosmic  scheme  may  be  at  first 
received  by  the  modern  mind  with  bewilderment  or 
denial,  and  the  form  which  it  assumes  may  appear 
fanciful  or  archaic,  the  desires  which  it  expresses 
and  the  needs  which  it  satisfies  are  as  powerful  and 
persuasive  as  ever;  and  what  appears  to  the 
historian  mere  mythology  may  be  permanently 
justified  by  its  interpretation  of  human  nature 
and  experience.  The  survival  of  a  teaching  is 
quite  as  likely  to  depend  on  its  psychological 
sufficiency  as  on  its  historical  accuracy.  Much 
modern  theology,  especially  of  the  so-called  “  Lib¬ 
eral  School,”  has  for  this  reason  remained  uncon¬ 
vincing.  Its  purpose  has  been  to  rationalize  re- 
1  Gal.  i.  4.  2  Wrede,  “Paul,”  tr.  1907,  p.  no. 


THEOLOGY 


169 


ligion,  and  to  promote  what  Paul  calls  a  “  reason¬ 
able  service,”  while,  in  fact,  the  great  mass  of 
those  who  are  stirred  by  religious  motives  are  led, 
not  by  a  sense  of  reasonableness,  but  by  their 
emotion  and  imagination,  their  hopes  and  fears. 

At  this  point,  the  epoch-making  significance  of 
Paul’s  theology  comes  into  view.  His  cosmology 
may  be  archaic  and  his  theism  dualistic;  but  when 
one  penetrates  these  forms  of  thought  and  speech 
and  considers  the  spiritual  problems  they  are 
designed  to  solve,  one  is  met  by  much  which  re¬ 
mains  permanently  and  profoundly  true.  As  Arch¬ 
bishop  Temple  wrote,  in  1857,  “Our  theology  has 
been  cast  in  the  scholastic  mode,  i.  e.  all  based  on 
Logic.  We  are  in  need  of,  and  we  are  gradually 
being  forced  into,  a  theology  based  on  psychology. 
The  transition,  I  fear,  will  not  be  without  much 
pain;  but  nothing  can  prevent  it.”  1  Paul’s  the¬ 
ology  is  based  on  psychology.  It  is  an  interpreta¬ 
tion  of  his  own  experience.  It  has  its  sources, 
not  in  history,  but  in  reflection  on  life.  He  looks 
back  with  shame  and  sorrow  on  a  misdirected  and 
bitterly  repented  past,  and  the  sense  of  his  own 
sin  moulds  all  his  later  thought  concerning  the 
place  of  Christ  and  the  work  of  God.  What  Paul 
must  have  for  his  own  support  is  a  religion  of 
redemption.  “Who  will  rescue  me,”  he  says, 
“from  this  body  of  death?”2  The  transition 
is  not  “without  much  pain  but  nothing  can  prevent 
it.”  On  this  personal  need  his  mind  seizes  as 

1  “Memoirs  of  Archbishop  Temple,”  1906,  II.  517. 

2  Rom.  vii.  24. 


I  JO  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

revealing  the  primal  secret  of  the  universe,  and 
the  wings  of  his  soaring  imagination  lift  him  from 
the  level  of  individual  experience  up  to  the  height 
of  a  universal  law. 

Here  is  where  he  both  anticipates  and  satisfies 
the  spiritual  need  of  the  modern  world.  The 
humble  confession  which  he  makes  concerning 
himself  must  be  made,  in  different  forms  and 
degrees,  by  every  candid  and  self-examining  life. 
Blunders,  lapses,  misguided  ambitions,  destruc¬ 
tive  passions,  soil  one’s  memory  and  stain  one’s 
self-respect,  and  one’s  fundamental  desire  must 
be  for  a  way  of  cleansing  and  relief.  How,  then, 
shall  emancipation  and  restoration  be  attained? 
They  must  come  to  all,  as  they  did  to  Paul, 
"Through  enlistment  in  a  new  loyalty.  Sometimes 
this  sense  of  liberty  is  for  Paul  merely  a  release 
from  the  fetters  of  the  Jewish  law,  which  had 
bound  him  to  its  ordinances  and  traditions.  “  Lis¬ 
ten  to  Paul,”  he  says,  “do  not  slip  into  any  yoke 
of  servitude.”  “You  are  for  justification  by  the 
law?  Then  you  are  done  with  Christ,  you  have 
deserted  grace.”  1  The  same  sense  of  release  from 
the  “Law”  is  felt  by  many  a  modern  life  when, 
with  tragic  struggle,  it  wrestles  itself  free  from 
the  conventional  or  traditional  restrictions  of  its 
own  time  and  circumstance,  and  stands  erect  and 
justified  in  loyalty  to  the  immediate  right.  A 
critic  of  the  modern  world  has  said  that  its  cardinal 
sin  is  “Law-Morality,” — a  satisfaction,  that  is 
to  say,  with  prescribed  propriety,  and  a  disinclina- 

1  Gal.  v.  1-4. 


THEOLOGY 


171 

tion  or  inability  to  make  the  ventures  of  a  life 
of  grace.  With  Paul  this  sense  of  escape  is,  in  its 
most  poignant  expression,  that  of  release  from  his 
own  sin.  “The  law  of  the  Spirit  brings  the  life 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  that  law  has  set  me 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.”  1  However 
this  deliverance  may  occur,  it  has  given  him  a 
redemptive  religion.  It  may  take  the  form  of  a 
mystery,  but  it  speaks  the  language  of  repentance, 
reconciliation,  and  hope.  It  means  courage, 
reassurance,  deliverance,  “a  life  worthy  of  your 
calling.”  2  In  a  word,  the  theology  of  Paul  trans¬ 
forms  a  mystery-religion  into  an  ethical  religion. 
“Unmistakable  as  is  the  Hellenic  influence,  the  vic¬ 
torious  power  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  and  the  Hebrew 
inheritance  of  the  Apostle  are  seen  in  clearest  light 
in  the  ‘  ethicizing ’  of  prevailing  ideas.”  3  This  moral 
note  is  not  heard  in  the  Hellenic  mysteries.  They 
were  supernatural  revelations,  mythological  mira¬ 
cles.  Paul  appropriates  their  mythology  and 
claims  their  revelation,  but  converts  mythology 
into  ethics  and  visions  into  obedience.  With  all 
his  susceptibility  to  Hellenic  ideas  he  remains  a 
Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  to  whom  God  forgives 
“inquity  and  transgression  and  sin,”  and  “will  by 
no  means  clear  the  guilty.”  4  The  Law  might 
be  condemned  by  him  for  its  weakness  and  poverty, 


1  Rom.  viii.  2. 

2  Eph.  iv.  1. 

3  W.  Heitmiiller,  “Taufe  und  Abendmahl  im  Urchristentum,” 
1911,  s.  26. 

4  Ex.  xxxiv.  7. 


172  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

but  none  the  less  it  had  held  him  as  a  ward  “in 
discipline,  till  such  time  as  Christ  came.”  1  Re¬ 
demptive  religion  in  its  Oriental  forms  was  a 
drama;  Paul  converted  it  into  an  experience.  The 
mystery-religions  were  a  way  of  association  with 
God;  Paul’s  mystery  summoned  him  to  the  service 
of  men. 

Thus  the  theology  of  Paul,  which  is,  in  fact, 
a  reflection  on  experience,  exhibits  a  cycle  of 
conviction  through  which  his  agile  mind  pro¬ 
ceeds.  It  begins  with  that  personal  conviction  of 
guilt  and  shame  which  his  training  as  a  Jew  had 
encouraged,  and  which  his  abrupt  conversion  made 
more  penitent  and  absolute.  It  passes  into  the 
larger  area  of  Hellenic  traditions  and  rituals,  and 
claims  for  the  new  faith  a  supreme  place  among  the 
religions  of  the  time.  Finally,  Paul’s  earlier 
training  and  instincts  reassert  themselves,  and 
his  cosmic  scheme  sweeps  round  in  its  majestic 
circle,  until  it  reaches  once  more  the  Hebrew 
tradition,  and  righteousness  becomes  to  him  the 
test  of  godliness.  In  almost  every  letter,  the 
transition  from  theological  discussion  to  ethical 
conclusion  is  as  if  he  passed  from  the  solution  of  a 
problem  to  its  logical  corollary.  “Therefore, 
brethren,”  he  says  to  the  Romans; 2  “Hence, 
as  I  hold  this  ministry,”  to  the  Corinthians; 3  to 
the  Colossians,  “Since  then  you  have  been  raised 
with  Christ,”  4  and  to  the  Philippians,  “So  then, 
my  brothers.”  5  “It  would  be  truer  to  say,” 

1  Gal.  iii.  24.  3 II  Cor.  iv.  1.  6  Phil.  iv.  1. 

2  Rom.  xii.  1  A.  V.  4  Col.  iii.  1. 


THEOLOGY 


17  3 


Professor  Edward  Caird  has  remarked,  “that  the 
ethical  principle  in  Paul  begat  the  theological, 
than  that  the  theological  begat  the  ethical.”  1 
The  flight  of  his  thought  among  the  great  spaces 
of  theological  speculation,  has  not  made  him  in¬ 
capable  of  descending  to  the  solid  ground  of  prac¬ 
tical  morals.  A  Hebrew  when  he  starts,  he  is  not 
less  a  Hebrew  when  he  alights.  His  theology  is  a 
thrilling  interlude  of  daring  adventure,  between 
the  repentance  from  which  he  rises  and  the  ex¬ 
hortations  with  which  he  concludes.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  Paul’s  lofty  reasoning  should  have 
arrested  the  gaze  of  the  world,  as  one  eagerly 
watches  the  evolutions  of  an  airman;  but  the  in¬ 
cidents  of  his  experience  which  are  the  best  evidence 
of  courage  and  self-control  are  to  be  found,  first, 
at  his  point  of  departure,  and  then  in  his  capacity 
to  land;  in  the  confession  from  which  he  ascends, 
and  in  the  duty  to  which  he  returns.  The  theology 
of  Paul  lifts  him  to  a  breadth  of  horizon  where 
few  men  have  ever  soared;  but  the  genuineness  of 
his  repentance  and  the  sanity  of  his  instructions 
bring  him  nearer  to  the  common  level  of  human 
life.  Beneath  his  theology  is  his  religion,  and 
beyond  his  theology  is  his  ethics,  and  each  of  these 
has  its  lesson  to  teach  to  the  modern  world. 

1  “The  Evolution  of  Religion,”  1893,  II.  202. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  RELIGION  OF  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Even  so  brief  a  survey  as  has  been  made  of  the 
theology  of  Paul  is  sufficient  to  demonstrate  that 
his  subtle  arguments  and  sublime  affirmations  are 
not,  as  they  have  often  been  regarded,  the  central 
element  in  his  teaching.  Within  the  body  of  his 
theology  beats  the  heart  of  his  religion.  The  great 
circle  of  his  ideas  sweeps  round  the  fixed  centre  of 
his  faith.  His  philosophy  of  the  universe  and  his 
cosmic  conception  of  the  mission  of  Christ  are 
radii  which  run  outward  from  an  interior  and 
spiritual  experience, — bold  ventures  of  his  eager 
mind  reaching  out  to  the  circumference  of  his 
thought  with  argument  and  surmise.  His  theology 
is  the  gesture-language  of  his  spirit.  Many  out¬ 
posts  of  Paulinism  might  be  surrendered  to  the 
assaults  of  time  and  change  while  the  central 
citadel  of  Paul’s  religion  might  still  remain  unin¬ 
vaded  and  secure. 

What,  then,  was  this  religious  experience  of 
which  Paul’s  theology  was  the  vehement  and 
variable  expression?  It  may  be  stated  in  a  single 
word,  Christ.  The  abrupt  and  complete  transfer 
of  his  loyalty,  the  transition  from  hostility  to 
obedience,  had  brought  him  to  a  sufficient  and 
continuous  rule  of  life.  It  was  not  merely  venera- 

174 


RELIGION 


175 


tion  for  a  teacher,  like  the  sentiment  of  Plato  for 
Socrates;  it  was  a  sheer,  glad,  illuminating  com¬ 
munion  with  the  Spirit  of  the  Eternal  as  revealed 
in  a  vision  of  the  Christ.  It  was  like  coming  out 
of  the  dark  into  the  day.  “What  is  old  is  gone,” 
Paul  says,  “the  new  has  come.”  1  “God  who  said, 
‘Light  shall  shine  out  of  darkness,’  has  shone 
within  my  heart  to  illuminate  men  with  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  God’s  glory  in  the  face  of  Christ.”  2  The 
evidence  which  justified  the  transformation  was 
not  historical,  but  psychological.  “If  Christ  is 
within  you  .  .  .,  the  spirit  is  living.”  3  The 
life  of  the  disciple  had  been  merged  in  the  life  of 
his  glorified  Master, — “It  is  no  longer  I  who  live, 
Christ  lives  in  me.”  4  It  was  an  experience  of 
receptivity,  rather  than  of  activity.  The  initiative 
was  from  above. 

This  active  and  recreating  spirit  of  Christ  soon, 
as  has  already  been  noted,  became  practically 
identified  by  Paul  with  the  spirit  of  God,  and  in¬ 
distinguishable  in  operation.  “You  are  in  the 
Spirit,”  Paul  writes,  “since  the  Spirit  of  God  dwells 
within  you;”  but  in  the  next  phrase,  as  though 
reiterating  the  same  thought,  he  proceeds:  “Any¬ 
one  who  does  not  possess  the  Spirit  of  Christ  does 
not  belong  to  Him.”  5  “Christ,”  a  distinguished 
German  scholar  has  said,  “in  his  revealed  nature 
as  a  heavenly  being,  is  nothing  else  than  the  spirit 
of  God,  redeeming  from  the  daemons  and  the 

1 II  Cor.  v.  17.  4  Gal.  ii.  20. 

2 II  Cor.  iv.  6.  6  Rom.  viii.  9.  (See  also  above,  pp.  163  f.) 

3  Rom.  viii.  10. 


176  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

law.”  1  Finally,  this  central  experience  appears 
to  Paul  to  reproduce  in  personal  life  the  same 
spiritual  progress  which  Christ  himself  exhibited 
in  his  transition  from  an  earthly  to  a  glorified  state. 
The  disciple  is  transformed  into  the  same  like¬ 
ness,  “passing  from  one  glory  to  another — for 
this  comes  of  the  Lord  the  Spirit.”  2 

Paul  is  thus,  throughout  his  stormy  career,  at 
heart  a  mystic.  From  the  initial  experience  of  his 
conversion, — passing  through  what  has  been  de¬ 
scribed  as  the  “way  of  purgation”  in  his  silent 
withdrawal  to  Arabia,  to  the  “way  of  illumina¬ 
tion,”  finally  attained,3 — he  is  the  great  forerunner 
of  that  long  procession  of  idealists,  poets,  and 
transcendentalists,  who  have  testified,  in  varied 
language  and  through  different  creeds,  to  this 
immediate  communion  with  the  Eternal.  “To 
be  in  itself  alone,  and  not  in  being,  is  to  be  in 
God,”  said  the  Neoplatonist  Plotinus,  in  the  third 
century.  “This  therefore  is  the  life  of  the  Gods 
and  of  divine  and  happy  men,  a  liberation  from  all 
terrene  concerns,  a  life  unaccompanied  with  human 
pleasures,  and  a  flight  of  the  alone  to  the  Alone.”  4 
“Thou  needest  not  call  Him  from  a  distance,” 
writes  Eckhart  in  the  fourteenth  century,  “thy 

1  Troeltsch,  op.  cit.  s.  60. 

2 II  Cor.  iii.  18. 

3  Cf.  Evelyn  Underhill,  “The  Mystic  Way,”  pp.  157  ff.  Cf. 
also  her  later  volume,  “The  Life  of  the  Spirit  and  the  Life  of 
Today,”  1922. 

4“Enneades,”  VI.  ix.  11  (in  B.  Rand,  “The  Classical  Moral¬ 
ists,”  1909,  p.  175.) 


RELIGION 


177 


opening  and  His  entering  are  but  one  moment.”  1 
To  the  same  effect,  the  Dominican  Tauler  teaches, 
“I  am  as  certain  as  that  I  live  and  God  lives,  that 
if  the  soul  is  to  know  God,  she  must  know  Him 
above  time  and  space.  .  .  .  God  is  nigh  to  us, 
but  we  are  far  from  Him;  God  is  within,  we  are 
without;  God  is  at  home,  we  are  strangers.”  2 
Madam  Guyon,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  hears 
from  an  unknown  Franciscan  her  call  to  the  same 
communion:  “You  are  disappointed  and  per¬ 
plexed  because  you  seek  without  what  you  have 
within.  Accustom  yourself  to  seek  God  in  your 
heart,  and  you  will  find  Him;”3  and  she  soon 
testifies:  “The  soul,  passing  out  of  itself,  by  dying 
to  itself,  necessarily  passes  into  its  Divine  object. 
.  .  .  My  own  experience  seemed  to  me  a  veri¬ 
fication  of  this.”  4  The  same  testimony  is  re¬ 
peatedly  given  in  the  confessions  of  George  Fox: 
“One  day  when  I  had  been  walking  solitarily 
abroad,  and  was  come  home,  I  was  wrapped  up  in 
the  love  of  God,  so  that  I  could  not  but  admire 
the  greatness  of  His  love.  While  I  was  in  that  con¬ 
dition,  it  was  opened  unto  me  by  the  eternal  Light 
and  Power.”  5 

Nor  has  this  apostolic  succession  failed  under 


1  Pred.  iii.  Cf.  Underhill,  op.  cit.,  p.  355. 

2  “The  History  and  Life  of  the  Reverend  Doctor  John  Tauler.” 
Tr.  Winkworth,  1857,  pp.  191,  192. 

3  Vaughan,  “Hours  with  the  Mystics,”  Second  Edition,  1860, 

II.  155- 

4  T.  C.  Upham,  “Life  of  Madam  de  Guyon,”  1851, 1.  157. 

6  “Journal,”  Eighth  and  Bi-centenary  Edition,  1891,  I.  14. 


178  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

the  conditions  of  the  modem  world.  German 
theology  began  its  modern  period  in  1799,  in 
Schleiermacher’s  “  Discourses  concerning  Relig¬ 
ion/’  and  their  appeal  to  the  “  religious  life  itself, 
and  especially  those  devout  exaltations  of  the 
mind  in  which  all  activities  otherwise  known  to 
you  are  subordinated  or  almost  suppressed,  and 
the  entire  soul  is  dissolved  in  an  immediate  feeling 
of  the  Infinite  and  Eternal.”  1  The  same  high 
note  is  touched  in  the  teaching  of  Emerson : 
“The  soul  gives  itself,  alone,  original  and  pure,  to 
the  Lonely,  Original  and  Pure,  who,  on  that  con¬ 
dition,  gladly  inhabits,  leads  and  speaks  through 
it.  ...  I  am  bom  into  the  great,  the  universal 
Mind.  ...  So  come  I  to  live  in  thoughts  and  act 
with  energies  which  are  immortal.”  2 

In  short,  the  great  affirmation  of  Paul,  “There  is  a 
new  creation  whenever  a  man  comes  to  be  in  Christ,” 3 
has  been  verified  by  receptive  minds,  under  the 
most  varied  conditions  of  church  and  creed,  and 
with  slight  concern  for  theological  or  ecclesiastical 
difference  or  definitions.  The  Inner  Light,  the  Unio 
Mystica ,  the  assurance,  as  William  James  has 
said,  “that  the  conscious  person  is  continuous 
with  a  wider  self  through  which  saving  experiences 
come,”  4 — this  is  the  recurrent  and  irrepressible 
faith  which  breaks  through  the  formalism  of  each 
generation  into  the  world  of  Reality.  It  is  “the 

1  Werke,  I.,  “Ueber  die  Religion,”  1843,  s.  160. 

2  “Essay  on  the  Over-Soul,”  Prose  Works,  1853,  I.  371. 

3 II  Cor.  v.  17. 

4  “Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,”  p.  515. 


RELIGION 


179 


sense  of  Givenness,  of  Prevenience,  of  a  Grace,  of 
something  transcendent  having  in  part  become 
Immanent  to  our  human  world.”  1  “We  cannot 
live  a  moment  without  being  more  than  ourselves. 

.  .  .  We  make  all  our  advances  by  trusting  the 
soul’s  ‘invincible  surmised  We  keep  seeking  God 
because  we  are  all  the  time  finding  Him.”  2  “It 
is  a  blessed  thing,”  Phillips  Brooks,  with  generous 
sympathy,  testified,  “that  in  all  times  there  have 
always  been  men  to  whom  religion  has  not  pre¬ 
sented  itself  as  a  system  of  doctrine,  but  as  an 
elemental  life  in  which  the  soul  of  man  came  into 
very  direct  and  close  communion  with  the  soul 
of  God.  It  is  the  mystics  of  every  age  who  have 
done  most  to  blend  the  love  of  truth  and  the  love 
of  man  within  the  love  of  God.  .  .  .  The  mystic 
spirit  has  been  almost  like  a  deep  and  quiet  pool 
in  which  tolerance,  when  it  has  been  growing  old 
and  weak,  has  been  again  and  again  sent  back  to 
bathe  itself  and  to  renew  its  youth  and  vigor.”  3 
It  must  be  confessed  that  the  history  of  mysticism 
abounds  in  abnormal,  unstable,  and  ecstatic 
types,  in  which  the  stream  of  emotion  has  been 
arrested  in  a  pool  of  placid  quietism.  This  fruitless 
agitation  of  the  spirit,  this  influx  of  emotion  with 
no  outlet  to  thought  or  action,  has  inclined  ra¬ 
tionalists  and  moralists  to  regard  the  Mystic 


1  F.  von  Hiigel,  “Essays  and  Addresses  on  the  Philosophy  of 
Religion,”  1921,  p.  56. 

2  Rufus  M.  Jones,  “The  Later  Periods  of  Quakerism,”  1921, 
I.  p.  xxxiii. 

3  “Tolerance,”  1887,  p.  35. 


l8o  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


Way  as  misleading  or  illusory,  and  German  theology 
has  been  led  to  discriminate  between  Mysticismus, 
or  spiritual  intoxication,  and  Mystik,  or  spiritual 
insight.  The  one  may  be  misty  rather  than 
mysterious,  while  the  other  may  be  illuminating 
and  sane.  It  must  be  admitted,  still  further,  that 
Paul  himself  reports  occasions  of  passionate  emo¬ 
tion  and  ecstatic  trance,  which  are  not  likely  to 
commend  his  teaching  to  the  critical  judgment  of 
modem  minds.  “  While  I  was  praying  in  the 

temple,”  he  says,  “I  fell  into  a  trance  and  saw 
Him  saying  to  me.  .  .  .  ‘Go;  I  will  send  you  afar 
to  the  Gentiles;’”1  and,  again,  with  details  of 
rapture,  vividly  recalled  after  many  years,  and 
disguised  as  the  narrative  of  another  life:  “I 
know  a  man  in  Christ  who  fourteen  years  ago 
was  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven.  In  the  body 
or  out  of  the  body?  That  I  do  not  know:  God 
knows.  I  simply  know  that  in  the  body  or  out  of 
the  body  (God  knows  which)  this  man  was  caught 
up  to  paradise  and  heard  sacred  secrets  which  no 
human  lips  can  repeat.”  2  These  early  transports 
and  unspeakable  communications,  which  might 
have  reduced  the  Apostle  Paul  to  the  rank  of  a 
dreamer  or  a  quietist,  are,  however,  soon  supple¬ 
mented  by  other  habits  of  mind  which  completely 
overshadow  this  emotional  susceptibility,  and 
grow,  like  fruitful  branches,  from  the  deep  root  of 
mystical  communion.  Paul  becomes  both  a 
thinker  and  a  doer,  a  teacher  of  doctrine  and  a 
counsellor  of  conduct;  and  these  instructions  and 
1  Acts  xxii,  17,  18,  21.  2 II  Cor.  xii.  2-4. 


RELIGION 


181 

exhortations  often  preoccupy  the  mind  of  a  reader, 
and  leave  the  experience  which  lies  behind  them 
unobserved.  It  is  as  though  one  broke  a  bough 
from  a  living  tree  and  called  attention  to  the 
beauty  of  its  bud.  Whatever  Paul  may  teach  of 
the  nature  of  God  or  the  duty  of  man  gets  its 
vitality  and  permanence  from  the  initial  experience 
of  mystical  insight  which  had  transformed  his  life. 
The  vigor  of  his  thought  and  the  sanity  of  his 
ethics  testify  to  the  generative  force  of  his  spiritual 
life.1 

Here  is  indicated  the  test  which  mysticism 
must  always  meet:  Is  it  sterile,  self-sufficient, 
contemplative,  inactive;  or  is  it  the  source  of 
clearer  thought  and  moral  power?  The  mystic 
may  be  so  dazzled  by  the  vision  which  he  sees 
that  his  emotional  excitation  may  become  morbid, 
introspective,  and  illusory.  What  seems  to  him 
inspiration  may  be  merely  hallucination.  “  Master, 
it  is  a  good  thing  we  are  here,”  Peter  said  to  Jesus 
on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration;  “let  us  put  up 
three  tents  .  .  .  (not  knowing  what  he  was 
saying).”  But  the  Master  seemed  to  be  already 
hearing  the  cry  of  the  demoniac  boy  at  the  moun¬ 
tain’s  foot,  and  the  “dazzling  white”  garment 
was  cast  aside  that  the  work  of  healing  might  be 
done  “when  they  came  down  the  hill.”  2 

1  So  Bousset,  “Jesus  der  Herr,”  1916,  s.  72:  “The  entire  Pauline 
theology  of  redemption  and  doctrine  of  human  nature  is  developed 
from  the  standpoint  of  Paul  the  Mystic”  ( vom  Standpunkt  des 
Pneumatiker  Paulus). 

2  Luke  ix.  33-37. 


1 82 


THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

f 

“Not  always  on  the  mount  may  we 
Wrapt  in  the  heavenly  vision  be; 


The  mount  for  vision;  but  below 
The  pa,ths  of  daily  duty  go, 

And  nobler  life  therein  shall  own 
The  pattern  on  the  mountain  shown.” 

Here  are  at  once  the  peril  and  the  power  of  the 
mystic, — the  peril  of  detachment,  and  the  power 
of  vision.  If  the  mystic  can  bring  the  inspiration 
from  above  down  to  the  task  below,  then  he  comes 
to  it  with  a  singular  endowment  of  efficiency. 
The  upland  spring  hastens  to  the  plain  with  its 
refreshment  and  verdure;  the  healing  of  the  boy 
succeeds  the  transfiguration  on  the  mount.  A 
curious  dilemma  thus  confronts  the  mystic.  He 
has  found  the  source  of  all  fertilizing  religion;  but 
that  discovery  is  vain  unless  the  emotion  flows 
down  into  thought  and  life.  A  religion  without 
this  intimate  communion  with  the  Eternal  is  an 
external  tradition  rather  than  a  vital  experience; 
a  religion  which  has  no  outlet  into  thought  and 
work  is  as  when  a  sacred  Jordan  ends  in  a  Dead 
Sea,  on  whose  surface  one  may  float  but  whose 
water  one  cannot  drink.  Mysticism  is  thus  either 
sterile  meditation  or  productive  inspiration.  Emo¬ 
tion  is  not  an  end  but  a  beginning.  Its  worth  is  in 
its  consequence.  If  the  mystic  use  his  talent  more 
is  added  to  it;  if  he  hide  it  there  may  be  taken  from 
him  even  the  vision  that  he  has  had.1  If  that 

lCf.  F.  G.  Peabody,  “Mysticism  and  Modern  Life,”  Harv. 
Theol.  Rev.,  1914. 


RELIGION 


I§3 


initial  experience  of  intimacy  and  insight  promotes 
indifference  to  serious  thought  or  to  human  service, 
then  it  becomes  a  refuge  for  dreamers  and  a  re¬ 
treat  from  duty.  If  it  clarifies  one’s  thinking  and 
fortifies  one’s  conduct,  then  its  place  in  the  religious 
life  is  assured. 

Such  is  the  test  which  the  modern  world  is  likely 
to  apply  to  the  mystic’s  creed.  The  most  distin¬ 
guished  figure,  for  example,  in  German  theology  dur¬ 
ing  the  nineteenth  century  was  the  preacher,  phil¬ 
osopher,  and  theologian,  Schleiermacher.  Ethics, 
aesthetics,  dogmatics,  church  administration,  and 
many  other  fields  of  learning  have  been  fertilized 
for  a  century  by  his  masterful  mind.  Yet  Schleier¬ 
macher  was  fundamentally  a  mystic.  Moravian 
pietism  was,  he  said,  the  maternal  womb  from 
which  his  religious  life  was  bom.  “To  seek  and 
find  this  [the  Eternal]  in  all  that  lives  and  moves, 
in  all  growth  and  change,  in  all  action  and  suffer¬ 
ing  and  to  possess  and  recognize  life  itself  as 
existing  in  this  immediate  feeling, — that  is  re¬ 
ligion.” 

The  Society  of  Friends,  to  name  another  in¬ 
stance,  has  been  distinguished  throughout  its 
history  for  its  contributions  to  applied  Christian¬ 
ity.  The  first  protest  made  by  an  American  or¬ 
ganization  against  the  curse  of  human  slavery 
was  made  in  1688  by  the  Friends  at  German¬ 
town;  the  first  English  petition  of  the  same  char¬ 
acter  was  laid,  in  1788,  by  the  Quakers  before  the 
House  of  Commons;  the  causes  of  the  Negro,  the 
1  “Ueber  die  Religion,”  ed.  1843,  s.  185. 


184  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Indian,  and  of  peace  between  nations,  have  found 
among  the  Friends  early  and  determined  advocacy. 
Finally,  the  same  small  group  of  untiring  philan¬ 
thropists  has  won  the  gratitude  of  the  world  by  its 
generous  and  judicious  service  of  the  afflicted 
populations  of  Europe  since  the  world-war.  Yet 
this  philanthropic  leadership  has  been  attained 
by  the  most  consistent  and  unwavering  of  mystics, 
whose  sufficient  authority  is  the  immediate  testi¬ 
mony  of  the  Inner  Light.1  The  habitual  inclina¬ 
tion  of  the  Society  of  Friends  to  quietism  and 
pacifism  seemed  likely  to  arrest  its  progress,  and 
leave  it  as  in  an  eddy  of  the  stream  of  thought 
in  the  modem  world;  but  the  mystic’s  faith  has 
found  a  new  channel  for  itself,  even  through  the 
desert  of  war,  and  has  carried  to  thirsty  multitudes, 
even  of  hostile  nations,  an  abundant  supply  of  the 
water  of  life. 

Of  this  transmission  of  mysticism  to  thought  and 
service  the  career  of  the  Apostle  Paul  is  the  most 
distinguished  instance  in  history.  As  a  theologian, 
his  subtle  reasonings  concerning  God  and  man 
have  been  for  multitudes  of  Christians  the  test  of 
orthodoxy  and  the  essentials  of  creeds.  As  a  moral 
counsellor,  his  self-confessions  and  bold  exhorta¬ 
tions  have  directed  Christian  ethics  ever  since. 
Yet  both  thought  and  conduct  are  to  him  channels 
through  which  the  stream  of  his  religion  flows. 
The  secluded  spring  from  which  this  spiritual 
confidence  emerges  is  the  continuous  sense  of 

1  C/.  the  impressive  record  of  social  service,  from  John  Woolman 
to  Elizabeth  Fry,  in  R.  M.  Jones,  op.  cit .,  Ch.  X. 


RELIGION 


185 

direct  communion  with  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  is 
what  gives  his  theology  its  confidence  and  his 
ethics  its  sanity; — a  hope  “ which  never  disappoints 
us,  since  God’s  love  floods  our  hearts  through  the 
holy  Spirit  which  has  been  given  to  us.”  1 

In  her  notable  biography  of  Lord  Salisbury,  his 
daughter,  in  summing  up  her  father’s  religious  life, 
describes  it  as  a  “  personal  surrender  in  love  and 
trust  to  the  living  Christ.”  ‘The  blood  in  a  man’s 
veins  is  hidden  from  view,  but  a  portrait  of  him 
which  failed  to  recognize  its  presence,  however 
faithfully  his  features  might  be  reproduced,  or  his 
anatomy  defined,  would  be  but  the  portrait  of  a 
corpse.”  2  The  same  words  might  be  used  to 
describe  the  religion  of  Paul.  The  blood  in  his 
veins  was  that  personal  surrender  to  the  living 
Christ,  without  which  no  portrait  of  him  would 
be  true  to  life. 

1  Rom.  v.  5.  Johannes  Weiss,  in  his  posthumous  essay, 
“Die  Bedeutung  des  Paulus  fur  den  modernen  Christen,”  (in 
Zeitschrift  fur  die  N.  T.  Wissenschaft,  1919-20,5.  140),  proposes 
some  qualification:  “  It  might  even  be  questioned  whether  Paul 
himself  takes  the  mystic’s  formula,  derived  from  his  Hellenistic  en¬ 
vironment,  so  seriously  as  some  of  his  interpreters  assert.  It  is  at 
least  very  noteworthy  that  the  passage  in  which  he  announces  it 
most  definitely  (Gal.  220),  ‘It  is  no  longer  I  who  live,  Christ  lives 
in  me,’  is  immediately  followed  by  the  interpretation:  ‘The  life  I 
now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God.’  .  .  .  Here 
he  substitutes  for  the  mystical  formula.  .  .  .  the  language  of  an 
‘I-and-thou  religion,’  the  grateful  recognition  of  the  loving  work 
of  Christ,  the  acceptance  of  his  grace,  and  the  dedication  of  one’s 
self  to  his  holy  and  righteous  will.” 

2  Lady  Gwendolen  Cecil,  “Life  of  Robert,  Marquis  of  Salis¬ 
bury,”  1921,  I.  122. 


1 86  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

When  one  recalls  the  great  words  which  sum¬ 
marize  Paul’s  religion,  one  finds  in  each  case  the 
marks  of  this  central  experience.  Grace  is  that 
accession  of  spiritual  vitality  which  man  receives 
from  God.  “By  God’s  grace  I  am  what  I  am.”  1 
The  Law  includes  much  more  than  Hebrew  ordi¬ 
nances;  it  is  the  symbol  of  all  external  compulsion 
and  conventional  morality.  “Did  you  receive  the 
Spirit  by  doing  what  the  Law  commands?  Did 
you  begin  with  the  spirit  only  to  end  now  with 
the  flesh?”  2  Faith  is  not  intellectual  conformity; 
still  less  is  it  a  renunciation  of  the  intellectual  life. 
It  is  the  disciplined  obedience  of  those  who  “lead 
the  life  of  the  Spirit.”  3  “We  walk  by  faith,”  4 
Paul  says.  Faith,  that  is  to  say,  is  not  a  way  of 
talking,  but  a  way  of  walking.  It  is  the  dedication 
of  the  will  to  the  Divine  intention.  It  is  mysticism 
fulfilling  itself  in  obedience.  It  is  leading  the  life 
of  the  spirit.  A  similar  emphasis  is  given  to  the 
word  Hope.  “The  ancients,”  it  has  been  said, 
“were  not  pessimists,  but  they  distrusted  Hope. 
.  .  .  St.  Paul’s  deliberate  verdict  on  pagan  society, 
that  ‘it  had  no  hope,’  cannot  be  lightly  set  aside. 
No  other  religion  before  Christianity  ever  erected 
hope  into  a  moral  virtue.  ‘We  are  saved  by  hope’ 
was  a  new  doctrine  when  it  was  pronounced.”  5 

Finally,  there  meets  one  still  another  word  which 
sums  up  the  sense  of  mastery  attained  when  faith 

1 1  Cor.  xv.  io.  3  Gal.  v.  16. 

2  Gal.  iii.  2-3.  4 II  Cor.  v.  7  A.  V. 

5  W.  R.  Inge,  “The  Idea  of  Progress,”  Romanes  Lecture,  1920, 
p.  27. 


RELIGION 


187 

meets  grace  and  is  justified  by  hope.  It  is  the 
great  w^rd  Power.  No  word  in  Paul’s  writings  is 
more  characteristic  and  reiterated.  More  than 
forty  times  he  uses  it  to  define  the  effect  of  his  new 
loyalty.  “I  have  met  with  you  in  spirit  and  by 
the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus.”  1  “The  transcend¬ 
ing  power  belongs  to  God,  not  to  myself.”  2  The 
life  of  God  had  become  in  Paul,  if  one  may  use  the 
language  of  modern  life,  a  spiritual  engine,  from 
which  power  was  transmitted  to  move  the  life  of 
the  world;  and  one  who  brought  himself  into  con¬ 
tact  with  that  source  of  energy  felt  an  augmenta¬ 
tion  of  vitality  and  momentum,  and  was  moved, 
as  the  letter  to  the  Hebrews  later  said,  “by  the 
power  of  an  indissoluble  Life  and  not  by  the  law 
of  an  external  command.”  3 

In  his  address  on  Gladstone  Lord  Rosebery 
dwells  on  the  religious  faith  which  sustained 
the  great  statesman,  but  proceeds  to  point  out 
that  this  which  was  “the  essence,  the  savour, 
the  motive  power  of  his  life”  was  applied  to  the 
great  causes  which  he  defended.  When  he  had  con¬ 
vinced  himself  that  a  cause  was  right,  it  engrossed 
him,  it  inspired  him,  with  a  certainty  as  deep- 
seated  and  as  impervious  as  ever  moved  mortal 
man.  To  him,  then,  obstacles,  objection,  the  coun¬ 
sels  of  doubters  and  critics,  were  as  naught;  he 
pressed  on  with  the  passion  of  a  whirlwind,  but 
also  with  the  steady  persistence  of  some  puissant 
machine.”  4  A  similar  transmission  of  religious 

1 1  Cor.  v.  4.  2 II  Cor.  iv.  7.  3  Heb.  vii.  16. 

4  “  Miscellanies,  Literary  and  Historical,”  1921,  I.  258. 


1 88  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

power,  so  abundantly  generated  as  to  give  momen¬ 
tum  to  the  whole  of  life,  is  to  be  observed  in  Paul. 
His  faith  had  a  single  source,  but  many,  and  often 
remote,  outlets  of  action;  and  in  each  case  it  moved 
with  the  passion  of  a  whirlwind  and  the  persistence 
of  a  machine.j 

Here,  then;  at  the  heart  of  Paul’s  religion,  are 
Grace,  Faith,  Hope,  and  Power, — the  descending 
gift  of  God,  the  ascending  acceptance  of  man,  and 
the  influx  of  capacity,  courage,  initiative,  and  ex¬ 
pectancy,  as  from  an  unsuspected  and  subconscious 
endowment  of  power.  These  elements  of  the 
religious  life  have  in  them  nothing  that  is  transient, 
archaic,  Hellenic,  or  Hebraic.  They  are,  on  the 
contrary,  timeless,  universal,  and  verifiable  under 
the  conditions  of  any  civilization  or  age.  Theories 
of  redemption  change  with  the  passing  centuries. 
Christologies  are  elaborated  or  simplified  as  life 
grows  more  complex  or  learning  more  profound. 
Creeds  may  be  reconstructed  or  spiritualized  to 
express  the  genuine  conviction  of  thoughtful 
minds.  But  the  experience  of  the  life  of  God  in  the 
soul  of  man,  where  grace  meets  faith  and  the  con¬ 
tact  Hashes  into  power,— this  is  independent  of 
circumstances  and  traditions,  and  a  teacher  who 
has  confidently  borne  witness  to  the  transforming 
effect  of  this  experience  remains  a  trustworthy 
guide  even  among  the  new  conditions  of  the  modern 
world.  The  theologian  is  an  adventurer  among 
ideas  whose  depths  can  never  be  fully  explored. 
His  ultimate  confession  is  that  of  Job:  “Lo,  these 
are  parts  of  his  ways;  but  how  little  a  portion  is 


RELIGION 


189 


heard  of  him.”  1  Yet,  from  age  to  age,  the  com¬ 
munion  of  spirit  with  Spirit  remains  undisturbed 
by  the  vicissitudes  of  thought,  and  where  grace 
meets  faith  power  is  renewed,  amid  the  instability 
and  temporariness  of  confessions  and  creeds,  to 
think  straight  and  to  do  right;  and  the  modern 
world  may  still  repeat  the  Psalmist’s  thanksgiving, 
“My  heart  is  fixed,  O  God,  my  heart  is  fixed:  I 
will  sing  and  give  praise.”  2 

At  this  point  one  meets  the  varied  and  often 
obscure  expressions  through  which  Paul  tries  to 
convey  to  others  the  effect  on  his  own  mind  of 
fellowship  with  Christ.  Justification,  sanctifica¬ 
tion,  propitiation, — these  great  words  have  often 
been  applied  by  ingenious  theologians  to  transform 
Paul’s  religion  into  a  kind  of  legal  procedure  or 
ceremonial  sacrifice,  and  have  promoted  a  con¬ 
ception  of  the  Christian  life  which  Paul  would  have 
been  the  last  to  recognize  as  his  own.  Justification 
was,  it  is  true,  often  used  as  a  forensic  word,  indica¬ 
ting  an  acquittal  at  the  bar;  but  it  is  appropriated 
by  Paul  to  teach,  not  so  much  conformity  to  law 
as  emancipation  from  it.  Having  committed  one’s 
self  to  Christ,  instead  of  relying  “on  outward 
privilege,”  3  one  is  “justified  by  faith,”  and  is 
free  from  the  law.  The  legal  analogy,  that  is  to 
say,  is,  in  the  paradoxical  manner  of  Paul,  em¬ 
ployed  to  deny  the  legal  relation.  The  acquittal 
of  man  is  in  fact  an  acceptance  by  God.  It  is  sim¬ 
ply  God’s  forgiveness  of  man’s  sin,  not  by  law  but 
by  grace.  The  terms  of  the  law  are  used  only  to  be 
1  Job  xxvi.  14.  2  Ps.  lvii.  7.  3  Phil.  iii.  4. 


190  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

rejected.  “Whatever  the  Law  says,  we  know  it 
says  to  those  who  are  inside  the  Law  ...  for  no 
person  will  be  acquitted  in  His  sight  on  the  score 
of  obedience  to  law.”  1  Justification  is  thus,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  a  reiteration,  in  Paul’s 
academic  language,  of  the  teaching  more  beauti¬ 
fully  given  by  Jesus  in  his  parable  of  the  Pharisee 
and  the  publican,  and  in  that  of  the  servants  re¬ 
ceiving  equal  pay  for  varied  service.  “The  merit 
idea  poisons  the  springs  of  religious  life.  .  .  . 
God’s  gifts  are  for  those  who  come  to  Him  in  the 
right  temper  and  are  prepared  to  use  them  worth¬ 
ily.”  2  Not  what  one  deserves,  but  what  God 
thinks  one  needs,  is  one’s  reward. 

Sanctification,  another  Pauline  word,  is,  in 
modern  speech,  consecration,  or  holiness, — a  con¬ 
secration  to  be  gained,  not  by  the  unaided  effort 
of  man,  but  by  the  inflooding  spirit  of  God.  The 
Father  seeks  his  children,  and  they  become  “saints”, 
not  because  they  are  perfect  but  because  they 
are  called  by  him.  “You  washed  yourselves  clean, 
you  were  consecrated,  you  were  justified  in  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  Spirit 
of  our  God.”  3  Completely  fulfilled  sanctifica¬ 
tion  becomes  merged  in  “sonship”  or  “adoption.” 
The  Christian,  that  is  to  say,  is  not  a  saint  in  his 
own  right.  He  partakes  of  the  righteousness  of 
God.  “He  will  be  consecrated  and  useful  to  the 
Owner  of  the  House,  he  will  be  set  apart  for  good 
work  of  all  kinds.”  4 


1  Rom.  iii.  19-20. 

2  Morgan,  op.  cit .,  p.  155. 


3 1  Cor.  vi.  11. 

4 II  Tim.  ii.  21. 


RELIGION 


IQI 

The  word  Propitiation  has  had  a  still  more 
changeful  history.  Like  justification,  it  may  sug¬ 
gest  a  court  of  justice  and  a  reparation  made;  or, 
again,  it  may  recall  a  ceremonial  rite;  and  it  must  be 
admitted  that  in  various  passages  the  conceptions 
of  an  angry  God  and  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  linger  in 
Paul’s  mind.1  His  dominant  thought,  however, 
moves  on  a  higher  level.  The  reconciliation  is 
not  to  be  earned  or  claimed,  but  is  a  gift.  God  does 
not  wait  to  be  propitiated.  “It  is  all  the  doing  of 
God  who  has  reconciled  me  to  himself.”  This  is 
what  has  permitted  Paul  to  be  a  “minister  of  his 
reconciliation.”  2  The  ancient  forms  become 
symbols  of  the  new  redemption.  “If  we  were 
reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  his  Son  when  we 
were  enemies,  much  more,  now  that  we  are  recon¬ 
ciled,  shall  we  be  saved  by  his  life.”  3  In  a  word, 
the  spacious  words  which  Paul  utilizes  for  his 
purpose,  and  which  have  provided  such  abundant 
material  for  theological  controversy,  exhibit  the 
apostle  wresting  himself  free  from  the  entangle¬ 
ment  of  the  law  and  feeling  the  exhilaration  and 
liberty  of  his  new  faith.  They  are  no  longer  legal 
or  ceremonial,  but  religious,  words.  “The  law  of 
the  Spirit  brings  the  life  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus, 
and  that  law  has  set  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin 
and  death.”  4 

This  spiritual  transition  in  Paul  is,  it  must  be 
recognized,  not  made,  as  in  Jesus,  with  tranquil 
self-confidence  and  unperturbed  authority;  but 

1  Rom.  i.  18;  iv.  15;  xii.  19. 

2 II  Cor.  v.  18. 


3  Rom.  v.  10. 

4  Rom.  viii.  2. 


192  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

with  a  harrowing  sense  of  inconsistency,  and  with 
repeated  reversions  of  phrase  and  thought.  “The 
Spirit  assists  us  in  our  weakness”  and  “pleads  for 
us  with  sighs  that  are  beyond  words.”  1  Yet  the 
consequence  is  with  Paul  as  with  Jesus, — a  spiritual 
elevation  from  which  one  may  look  down  on  the  ear¬ 
lier  dispensation  and  recognize  its  fundamental  sim¬ 
plicity  and  strength.  “The  entire  law  is  summed 
up  in  one  word,  in  You  must  love  your  neighbour 
as  yourself.”  2 

With  this  sense  of  the  acceptance  by  a  per¬ 
fectly  merciful  God  of  an  imperfectly  conse¬ 
crated  man,  Paul  attains  a  substantial  quietness 
of  mind  which  is  in  constant  contrast  with  the 
external  incidents  of  his  stormy  career;  and  at  this 
point  another  great  word  sums  up  his  inner  tran¬ 
quillity,  and  becomes  increasingly  conspicuous  as 
his  letters  proceed.  It  is  the  word  Peacg.  How¬ 
ever  abruptly  his  letters  may  leap  into  controversy 
or  rebuke  they  begin,  as  a  rule,  with  the  saluta¬ 
tion,  “  Grace  and  peace  to  you,”  and  at  their  close 
append  a  prayer  that  “The  Lord  of  peace  himself 
grant  you  peace  continually,  whatever  comes.”  3 
The  justification  which  it  is  Paul’s  supreme  desire 
to  attain,  has  as  its  consequence  a  sense  of  peace 
with  God.  “As  we  are  justified  by  faith,  then,  let 
us  enjoy  the  peace  we  have  with  God  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.”  4 

1  Rom.  viii.  26.  2  Gal.  v.  14. 

3 II  Thess.  iii.  16.  (So  Rom.  xv.  33;  xvi.  20;  II  Cor.  xiii.  n; 

Gal.  vi.  16;  I  Thess.  v.  23.) 

4  Rom.  v.  1. 


RELIGION 


193 


Here  is  the  final  aim  of  Paul’s  preaching  and 
teaching.  “  Peace,  then,  and  the  building  up  of 
each  other,  these  are  what  we  must  aim  at.”  1 
Peace  amid  turbulent  circumstances  is  the  test  of 
faith.  “The  interests  of  the  Spirit  mean  life  and 
peace.”  2  “The  harvest  of  the  Spirit  is  life,  joy, 
peace.”  3  It  seems  a  strange  word  to  apply  to  so 
unpeaceful  a  life  as  that  of  a  wandering  missionary 
and  combative  controversalist.  Fortitude  he 
might  inculcate,  or  endurance,  or  even  the  joy  of 
self-sacrifice,  but  few  lives  have  been  more  con¬ 
tinuously  involved  in  conflicts,  both  of  body  and 
will,  or  in  what  Paul  himself  calls  “wrangling  all 
round  me,  fears  in  my  own  mind.”  4  No  evidence 
of  Paul’s  religious  sanity  is,  therefore,  more  con¬ 
vincing  than  his  reiterated  testimony  to  an  interior 
and  unperturbed  peace  of  mind.  It  is  the  same 
tranquillity,  attained  through  struggle  and  peril, 
which  seemed  in  Paul’s  Master  a  natural  and  con¬ 
tinuous  endowment,  and  made  it  reasonable  to 
prophesy  of  him  that  he  would  “guide  our  steps 
into  the  way  of  peace.”  5  In  each  of  these  lives, 
remote  as  they  were  from  each  other  in  tempera¬ 
ment  and  endowment,  there  is  revealed,  beneath 
the  restless  circumstances  of  experience,  this 
deeper  calm,  like  the  quiet  of  ocean  beneath  its 
surging  waves.  The  great  saying  reported  of 
Jesus,  “Peace  I  leave  to  you;  my  peace  I  give  to 
you;  I  give  it  not  as  the  world  gives  its  £ Peace’,”  6 
might  have  been  repeated  by  Paul  as  the  summary 

1  Rom.  xiv.  19.  3  Gal.  v.  22.  6  Luke  i.  79. 

2  Rom.  viii.  6.  4 II  Cor.  vii.  5.  6  John  xiv.  27. 


194  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

of  his  message.  His  promise  to  those  who  let  their 
“  steps  be  guided  by  such  truth  as  we  have  at¬ 
tained”  1  was:  “So  shall  God’s  peace,  that  sur¬ 
passes  all  our  dreams,  keep  guard  over  your  hearts 
and  minds  in  Christ  Jesus.”  2  Far  as  the  prevailing 
habit  of  mind  in  Paul  was  from  that  which  ruled 
the  life  of  Jesus,  the  words  recorded  of  the  Master 
might  have  been  used  by  the  apostle, — “I  have 
said  all  this  to  you  that  in  me  you  may  have 
peace.”  3 

Finally,  among  these  marks  of  Paul’s  religion, 
must  be  observed  its  extraordinary  effect  on  his 
thought  of  immortality;  and  here,  once  more,  one 
is  met  by  a  striking  example  of  the  apostle’s 
expanding  and  ripening  mind.  Participation  with 
the  spirit  of  Christ  is  always,  for  Paul,  a  sufficient 
assurance  of  spiritual  permanence.  Having  “put 
on  Christ,”  one  may  share  the  destiny  of  Christ. 
“Since  then  you  have  been  raised  with  Christ,  aim 
at  what  is  above.”  4  Immortality,  in  other  words, 
is  not  an  incident  of  the  future  only.  One  may  in 
this  present  life  “attain  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead.  Not  that  I  have  already  attained  this,  or  am 
already  perfect,  but  I  am  pressing  on  to  lay  hold 
of  the  prize  for  which  also  Christ  has  laid  hold  of 
me.”  5  The  problem s  is  thus  transferred  from  a 
future  world  to  the  present  life.  The  question  it 
raises  is  not  whether  when  I  die  I  shall  live  again, 
but  whether  I  am  alive  now.  “For  the  mind  to  be 
given  up  to  earthly  things  means  death;  but  for 

1  Phil.  iii.  16.  2  Phil.  iv.  7.  3  John  xvi.  33.  4  Col.  iii.  1. 

6  Phil.  iii.  11,  12  (tr.  Weymouth). 


RELIGION 


195 


it  to  be  given  up  to  spiritual  things  means  Life 
and  peace.”  1  When,  however,  Paul  proceeds 
from  this  bold  conception  of  immortality,  not 
merely  as  a  future  hope  but  as  a  present  possession, 
and  directly  approaches  the  problem  of  the  future, 
his  eager  mind  grasps  at  varied  and  even  inconsist¬ 
ent  forms  of  proof,  swinging  through  a  great  arc 
of  reasoning,  all  the  way  from  the  dramatic  and 
materialized  teachings  of  Pharisaism  to  the  most 
sublimated  of  Greek  ideas. 

The  abruptness  of  this  oscillation  of  thought  is 
most  conspicuous  in  the  extraordinary  contrast 
presented  by  the  two  letters  to  the  Corinthians. 
In  the  first  (Ch.  xv.),  the  future  of  the  world  and 
of  the  human  soul  is  pictured  in  splendid  colors 
within  the  frame  of  Hebrew  tradition.  When 
Paul  asks,  “How  do  the  dead  rise?”  he  is  but 
repeating  the  question  of  Ezekiel,  “Son  of  man, 
can  these  bones  live?  ” 2  His  announcement, 
“The  trumpet  will  sound,”  recalls  the  prophecy  of 
Zechariah,  “The  Lord  God  shall  blow  the  trum¬ 
pet.”  3  The  great  saying,  “Death  is  swallowed 
up  in  victory,”  is  a  citation  from  Isaiah.4  “The 
first  man,  Adam,  became  an  animate  being”  is  a 
reminiscence  of  Genesis.5  Through  these  familiar 

1  Rom.  viii.  6,  tr.  Weymouth.  Cf.  F.  C.  Porter,  “Paul’s  Belief 
in  Life  after  Death,”  in  “Religion  and  the  Future  Life,”  1922,  p. 
255:  “Paul’s  hope  for  life  after  death  rests  ultimately  upon  his 
present  dying  and  living  with  Christ;  that  is,  upon  his  present 
experience  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  remaking  his  nature  after  its 
own  likeness.” 

2  Ezek.  xxxvii.  3. 

3  Zech.  ix.  14. 


4  Is.  xxv.  8. 
6  Gen.  ii.  7. 


196  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

allusions,  amplified  and  organized  into  a  personal 
message,  Paul  unfolds,  in  a  series  of  daring  analo¬ 
gies,  an  amazing  aggregation  of  propositions  con¬ 
cerning  nature  and  life.  The  body  changes,  as 
does  the  growing  grain;  yet  every  seed  has  “ a 
body  of  its  own.  Flesh  is  not  all  the  same;  there 
is  human  flesh;  there  is  flesh  of  beasts,  flesh  of 
birds,  and  flesh  of  fish;”  yet  the  “ animate  body” 
rises  as  a  “ spiritual  body;”  and  this  transition 
is  to  be  “in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last 
trumpet-call;  when  the  dead  will  rise  imperishable, 
and  we  shall  be  changed.” 

Nothing  could  seem  more  unlikely  than  that 
such  teaching  should  be  accepted  among  the  con¬ 
ditions  and  presuppositions  of  modem  life.  Its 
biology,  psychology,  and  prophecy  are  all  alike 
archaic,  Pharisaic,  visionary.  Nor  is  the  teach¬ 
ing  even  orthodox  according  to  the  standards 
later  accepted  by  the  Church.  Its  anticipation 
of  a  spiritual  body  does  not  appear  to  con¬ 
firm  that  belief  in  a  resurrection  of  the  flesh 
which  the  creeds  soon  announced,  and  of  which 
Tertullian  said:  “And  so  the  flesh  shall  rise  again, 
wholly  in  every  man,  in  its  own  identity,  in  its 
absolute  integrity.”  1  Its  Christology  definitely 
subordinates  the  person  of  Christ,  and  announces 
that  “when  everything  is  put  under  him,  then  the 
Son  himself  will  be  put  under  Him  who  put  every¬ 
thing  under  him,  so  that  God  may  be  everything 
to  everyone.”  A  programme  of  eternity  thus 

1  Tertullian,  “On  the  Resurrection  of  the  Flesh,”  ch.  lxiii.,  tr. 
“Ante-Nicene  Fathers,”  ed.  Buffalo,  1885,  III.  593. 


RELIGION 


197 


conceived  cannot  without  much  strain  be  adjusted 
to  modem  ways  of  thought,  and  Christian  worship 
has  been  forced  to  satisfy  itself  with  the  spiritual 
atmosphere  of  hope  and  trust  which  surround  these 
Hebraic  details.  “As  we  have  borne  the  likeness 
of  material  Man,  so  we  are  to  bear  the  likeness  of 
the  heavenly  Man;”  “The  victory  is  ours,  thank 
God!  He  makes  it  ours  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,” 
— promises  and  prophecies  like  these  are  perenni¬ 
ally  comforting,  and  reveal  the  teacher  rising 
above  his  own  teaching,  as  though  Paul  threw  off 
the  restraints  of  Paulinism  and  attained  “the  glori¬ 
ous  freedom  of  the  children  of  God.”  1 

When  one  passes  from  the  first  of  these  letters 
to  the  second,  he  is  met  by  a  remarkable  change. 
Here  is  a  supplementary  Epistle,  addressed  to  the 
same  congregation,  and  offering  intimate  counsels 
and  urgent  exhortations.  Yet  when  the  apostle’s 
mind  reverts  to  the  problem  of  immortality,2 
and  the  hope  that  “He  who  raised  the  Lord  Jesus 
will  raise  me  too  with  Jesus,”  his  picture  of  that 
solemn  transitition  takes  a  completely  different 
form.  It  is  as  though  the  dream  of  the  last  trumpet 
and  of  the  imperishable  bodies  of  the  dead  were 
completely  forgotten,  while  the  thought  of  spiritual 
renewal  inspired  a  new  teaching  of  consummate 
beauty  and  permanent  truth.  His  picture  of  im¬ 
mortality  is  no  longer  wrought  out  of  the  fantastic 
shapes  of  Hebrew  tradition.  He  has  passed 
abruptly  from  Hebraism  to  Hellenism.  His  figure 
of  speech  becomes  Greek.  We  are,  he  says,  as  those 
1  Rom.  viii.  21.  2 II  Cor.  iv.  7-v.  10. 


198  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

who  dwell  in  a  tent,  which  may  at  any  time  be 
folded  away;  but  when  “this  earthly  tent  of  mine 
is  taken  down,  I  get  a  home  from  God,  made  by 
no  human  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.’ 7  It  is 
true  that  “I  sigh  within  this  tent  of  mine  .  .  . 
yearning  to  be  under  the  cover  of  my  heavenly 
habitation,”  and  that  “I  would  fain  get  away 
from  the  body  and  reside  with  the  Lord;”  but 
meantime  “the  slight  trouble  of  the  passing  hour 
results  in  a  solid  glory  past  all  comparison,  for 
those  of  us  whose  eyes  are  on  the  unseen,  not  on 
the  seen;  for  the  seen  is  transient,  the  unseen 
eternal.”  Could  any  language  be  more  in  con¬ 
trast  with  the  elaborate  programme  of  the  preced¬ 
ing  letter,  or  more  completely  acceptable  to  a 
modern  mind?  The  temporariness  of  this  earthly 
tent,  the  permanence  of  the  spirit  which  has  its 
eye  on  the  unseen, — these  convictions  and  intima¬ 
tions  remain  the  normal  content  of  a  rational 
faith  in  immortality.  The  same  teacher  who  has 
described  the  future  in  terms  of  flesh  and  trumpets 
now  rises  to  the  restrained  and  spiritualized  inter¬ 
pretation  of  “the  slight  trouble  of  the  passing 
hour.” 

V 

Is  it  that  Paul  has  deliberately  changed  his 
mind,  and  designedly  abandoned  his  daring  flights 
of  imagination?  Is  it  not  rather  that  we  here 
watch  his  indefatigable  thought  penetrating, 
without  consideration  of  consistency,  through  the 
cosmic  scene  which  at  first  arrests  his  attention 
to  the  deeper  realities  of  life  and  death,  and  reach¬ 
ing  the  very  heart  of  human  experience  in  this 


RELIGION 


IQ9 


communion  with  the  unseen  and  eternal?  However 
the  change  may  be  interpreted,  here,  in  this  almost 
incidental  paragraph,  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
evidences  of  the  apostle’s  amazing  fertility  of  mind. 
Courage  and  consolation  could  not  be  offered  in 
more  convincing  words  than  in  this  confident  sum¬ 
mons  from  the  earthly  tent  to  the  home  eternal 
in  the  heavens.  Christian  sentiment  repeats  the 
hope  of  Paul  in  the  familiar  lines  of  James  Mont¬ 
gomery  : 

“  Here  in  the  body  pent 
Absent  from  Him  I  roam, 

Yet  nightly  pitch  my  moving  tent 
A  day’s  march  nearer  home.” 


The  modem  mind  no  longer  listens  for  the  last 
trumpet-call;  but  realizes  as  poignantly  as  ever 
that  the  moving  tent  of  its  body  is  pitched,  each 
night,  nearer  home. 


If,  then,  these  conditions  and  consequences  are 
dfinong  the  marks  of  Paul’s  religion, — a  direct 
communion  with  the  spirit  of  the  Eternal,  an  en¬ 
trance  through  that  open  door  into  spiritual  con¬ 
fidence,  and  a  glad  sense  of  peace  as  this  threshold 
of  communion  is  passed — it  remains  to  observe 
the  ways  of  practical  expression  which  lie  before 
the  apostle  as  he  advances  in  his  religious  life. 
There  are  two  forms  of  utterance  which  through 
all  religious  history  have  offered  themselves  to 
faith.  As j emotion  quickens  thought  and  thought 
passes  into  action  there  may  be  either  an  oral 
or  a  symbolic  expression  of  the  experience  attained. 


J 


v 


200  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


The  way  of  speech  is  followed  in  prayer;  the  way 
of  symbolism  is  followed  in  ceremonial  or  ritual 
forms.  One  may  approach  the  inner  shrine  of 
worship  either  with  words  or  with  deeds,  or  with 
both.  Prayer  and  symbolic  acts  are  the  gesture- 
language  of  religion. 

Nothing  is  more  striking  in  the  story  of  Paul  than 
the  abundant  evidence  of  his  habit  of  prayer.  His 
life  of  action  and  his  argumentative  powers  have 
preoccupied  the  attention  of  many  students;  and 
he  has  often  been  estimated  either  as  a  travelling 
missionary,  or  as  a  controversial  theologian,  or  as 
both.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  as  peace  of  mind 
lay  beneath  his  tumultuous  career,  so  within  his 
amazing  activity  of  mind  and  body  there  was 
maintained  a  habitual  practice  of  prayer,  re¬ 
straining  his  temper  and  sustaining  his  hope.  At 
almost  every  epoch  of  his  experience,  Paul  may  be 
discovered  at  prayer,  and  it  certainly  affords  matter 
for  surprise  that  this  revelation  of  his  character 
should  have  been  so  slightly  appreciated  or  even 
observed.  His  prayers  are  singularly  devoid  of 
formalism;  they  are  spontaneous,  unstudied,  warm 
with  unrestrained  emotion.  Each  of  his  letters, 
except  the  impetuous  appeal  to  the  “  senseless 
Galatians,”  1  begins,  not  only  with  a  prayer  for 
grace  and  peace,  but  with  a  prolonged  and  search¬ 
ing  petition  of  a  more  comprehensive  character. 
To  the  Romans  he  writes:  “First  of  all,  I  thank 
my  God  through  Jesus  Christ  for  you  all.  .  .  . 
God  is  my  witness  .  .  .  how  unceasingly  I  always 

1  Gal.  iii.  i. 


RELIGION 


201 


mention  you  in  my  prayers;”  1  and  even  more  in¬ 
timately  and  tenderly  to  the  Corinthians,  in  his 
second  letter,  “  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  tender 
mercies  and  the  God  of  all  comfort,  who  comforts 
me  in  all  my  distress,  so  that  I  am  able  to  comfort 
people  who  are  in  any  distress  by  the  comfort 
with  which  I  myself  am  comforted  by  God.”  2 
When  he  writes  to  the  Philippians,  he  passes  from 
consolation  and  comfort  to  congratulation  and 
joy.  “ I  thank  my  God  for  all  your  remembrance 
of  me;  in  all  my  prayers  for  you  all  I  always  pray 
with  a  sense  of  joy  for  what  you  have  contributed 
to  the  gospel  from  the  very  first  day  down  to  this 
moment.”  3  In  still  another  vein,  he  begs  his 
friends  to  join  their  prayers  with  his:  “ Brothers, 
I  beg  of  you  .  .  .  rally  round  me  by  praying  to 
God  for  me.”  4  Still  again,  his  counsels  and  criti¬ 
cisms  are  softened  by  a  sense  of  gratitude,  and 
he  breaks  into  a  prayer  of  thanksgiving:  “We  al¬ 
ways  thank  God  for  you  all  when  we  mention  you 
constantly  in  our  prayers.”  5  “How  can  I  render 
thanks  enough  to  God  for  you,  for  all  the  joy 
you  make  me  feel  in  the  presence  of  our  God?”  6 

Here  is  quite  another  Paul  from  that  expositor 
of  doctrine  and  critic  of  morals  whom  the  Christian 
Church  has  for  the  most  part  remembered.  Be¬ 
neath  his  subtle  reasonings,  his  vigorous  coun¬ 
sels,  and  his  bold  appropriation  of  alien  beliefs, 
was  this  satisfying  and  refreshing  influence  of 

1  Rom.  i.  8-io.  3  Phil.  i.  3-5.  5 1  Thess.  i.  2. 

2 II  Cor.  i.  3-4.  4  Rom.  xv.  30.  6 1  Thess.  iii.  9. 


202  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

habitual  prayer,  testifying  to  the  depths  of  his 
religious  life.  Inadequate  and  halting  his  prayer 
might  be,  but  it  was  reenforced  by  the  cooperation 
of  God.  “We  do  not  know,”  he  says,  “how  to 
pray  aright,  but  the  Spirit  pleads  for  us  with 
sighs  that  are  beyond  words.”  1  “When  we  cry, 
‘Abba!  Father!’,  it  is  this  Spirit  testifying  along 
with  our  own  spirit  that  we  are  children  of  God.”  2 

In  these  deep  places  of  Paul’s  religious  life,  the 
forms  of  thought  and  expression  which  occasion¬ 
ally  carry  him  far  from  the  teaching  of  Jesus  are 
found  to  be  inadequate,  and  in  his  free  and  personal 
prayer  Paul  speaks  the  language  and  revives  the 
spirit  of  his  Master.  “Do  not  pray,”  said  Jesus 
at  the  beginning  of  his  work,  “by  idle  rote  like 
pagans,”  3  and  again  at  the  close  of  his  life,  “Watch 
and  pray,  all  of  you,  so  that  you  may  not  slip  into 
temptation.”  4  What  he  thus  urged  upon  others 
was  the  habit  of  his  own  life.  “He  went  up  the 
hill  by  himself  to  pray.  When  evening  came  he 
was  there  alone.”  5  “Sit  here,”  he  says  again, 
“till  I  go  over  there  and  pray.”  6  In  the  supremely 
touching  report  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  of  his  last 
hours,  no  other  words  can  help  his  friends  but 
those  of  prolonged  and  poignant  prayer.  “  I 
pray  for  them  .  .  .  Holy  Father,  keep  them  by 
the  power  of  thy  Name  which  thou  hast  given  me.” 7 
The  same  renewal  of  strength  and  peace  is  gained 
by  Paul  as  he  cries,  “Abba!  Father!”  and  claims 

1  Rom.  viii.  26.  4  Matt.  xxvi.  41.  6  Matt.  xxvi.  36. 

2  Rom.  viii.  16.  5  Matt.  xiv.  23.  7  John  xvii.  9,  11. 

3  Matt.  vi.  7. 


RELIGION 


203 


the  heritage  of  the  children  of  God.  The  barriers 
of  intellect  and  temperament  which  divide  the 
Epistles  from  the  Gospels  fall  away,  and  in  the 
simplicity  and  reality  of  prayer  the  missionary  and 
his  Master  meet.1 

There  remains  to  be  observed  the  second  chan¬ 
nel  through  which  the  religious  sentiment  may 
find  an  outlet  into  life.  It  is  the  way  of  symbolism. 
As  friendship  at  its  warmest  is  expressed,  not  by 
words,  but  by  a  clasp  of  hands,  as  love  may  be 
sealed  by  an  embrace,  so  religious  emotion,  when 
it  lies  too  deep  for  words,  may  utter  itself  through 
the  gesture-language  of  worship.  This  utterance 
of  faith  through  symbolic  acts  had  already,  when 
Paul  began  his  teaching,  taken  two  forms  in  the 
Christian  community, — the  rite  of  Baptism  and 
the  commemoration  of  the  last  supper  of  Jesus 
with  his  friends;  and  each  of  these  suggestive 
forms  of  religious  expression  was  first  accepted, 
and  then  profoundly  modified,  by  Paul’s  daring 
and  imaginative  mind. 

1  Paul  Sabatier,  in  describing  the  religious  experience  of  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  has  said,  “There  are  religions  which  look  toward 
divinity  and  religions  which  look  toward  man.  ...  In  the  relig¬ 
ions  which  look  toward  divinity  all  effort  is  concentrated  on  wor¬ 
ship,  and  especially  on  sacrifice.  .  .  .  Most  pagan  religions  belong 
to  this  category.  .  .  .  The  other  religions  look  toward  man;  their 
effort  is  directed  toward  the  heart  and  conscience  with  the  purpose 
of  transforming  them.  With  Francis  of  Assisi,  St.  Paul,  and  St. 
Augustine,  prayer  ceases  to  be  a  magic  formula;  it  is  an  impulse  of 
the  heart.  .  .  .  When  we  reach  these  heights  we  belong  not  to  a 
sect,  but  to  humanity.”  “Life  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,”  Eng.  tr. 
pp.  xxi  ff. 


204  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Baptism,  or  the  immersion  of  the  body  in  water, 
was,  it  need  hardly  be  recalled,  instituted  neither 
by  Paul  nor  by  Jesus  himself  as  a  new  ceremony, 
but  had  been  prefigured  in  the  ritual  washings  and 
bathings  prescribed  by  the  Jewish  Law,1  and  prac¬ 
ticed  by  ascetic  sects  like  the  Essenes,  as  the  symbol 
of  purification,  either  from  ritual  uncleanness  or 
from  daemonic  possession.  A  fine  suggestiveness 
was  frequently  conveyed  in  the  preference  for 
running  water,  as  in  the  washing  of  Naaman  in 
the  Jordan; 2  in  the  New  Testament  allusion  to 
“ living  water,’ 7  3  and  in  the  waiting  at  the  pool  of 
Bethesda  “for  the  moving  of  the  water.”  4  When 
the  strange  figure  of  John  the  Baptist  “came  on 
the  scene,”  preaching  in  the  desert  of  Judea, 
“Repent,  the  Reign  of  heaven  is  near,”  it  was  a 
baptism  “with  water  for  repentance”  to  which 
he  summoned  the  people; 5  and  when  Jesus,  in 
his  turn,  “came  on  the  scene  from  Galilee,”  he  was 
“baptized  by  John  at  the  Jordan.”  6  Baptism 
was  thus  recognized  by  the  early  Christian  com¬ 
munity  as  a  well  understood  and  beautiful  symbol 
of  their  new  loyalty.  “Repent,”  said  Peter  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  “let  each  of  you  be  baptized  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,”  and  the  record  adds: 
“About  three  thousand  souls  were  brought  in  that 
day.”  7 

In  the  nature  of  the  case,  a  rite  thus  conducted 
could  be  applied  to  those  only  who  were  ma- 

1  Lev.  xi  ff.;  Num.  xix.  4  John  v.  3  A.  V.  6  Matt.  iii.  13. 

2 II  Kings  v.  14.  5  Matt.  iii.  1,  2, 11.  7  Acts  ii.  38, 41. 

3  John  iv.  10. 


RELIGION 


205 


ture  enough  to  make  their  voluntary  confession, 
and  it  appears  to  have  been  usually  celebrated, 
not  according  to  the  formula  indicated  in  the  first 
Gospel,1  but  “in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,”  2  or 
“into  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.”  3  Indeed,  each 
act  of  discipleship  was  performed  in  this  name.4 
“The  trinitarian  formula,  which  appears  first  in 
Matthew  28  19,  did  not  come  into  use  till  toward 
the  end  of  the  first  century.”  5  The  convert, 
through  this  initiation,  simply  acknowledged  his 
Lord,  and  entered  into  the  companionship  of  a 
new  obedience.  Those  who  were  “baptized  into 
Christ”  were  all  “sons  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus.”  6 

Such  was  the  natural  and  beautiful  ceremony 
which  Paul  welcomed  at  his  own  conversion.  “I 
have  chosen  him,”  it  is  written  that  the  risen  Christ 
announced,  “to  be  the  means  of  bringing  my  Name 
before  the  Gentiles,”  and  in  this  spirit  Saul,  when 
Ananias  laid  his  hands  on  him,  “regained  his 
sight,  got  up  and  was  baptized.”  7  The  rite  was 
apparently  not  regarded  by  him  as  of  fundamental 
importance.  “Christ  did  not  send  me  to  baptize 
but  to  preach  the  gospel.”  8  With  Paul,  as  with 
his  Master,  the  symbol  might  be  delegated  or  sub¬ 
ordinated.  “Jesus  himself  did  not  baptize;  it  was 
his  disciples.”  9  As  Paul,  however,  reflected  on 

1  Matt,  xxviii.  19.  6  Gal.  iii.  26. 

2  Acts  ii.  38;  x.  48.  7  Acts  ix.  17,  18. 

3  Gal.  iii.  27;  Acts  xix.  5  R.  V.  8 1  Cor.  i.  17. 

4  Mark  xvi.  17;  Luke  ix.  49;  x.  17,  etc.  9  John  iv.  2. 

6  Morgan,  op.  cit.,  p.  204. 


206  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


this  traditional  form,  his  vivid  imagination  seized 
on  its  suggestiveness  and  his  mind  soared  away 
into  a  higher,  and  often  cloudy,  region  of  new 
associations  and  significations,  in  which  a  pledge 
of  piety  became  transformed  into  a  magical  rite, 
and  the  symbol  became  a  sacrament.  The  bap¬ 
tized  convert,  he  says,  has  “  taken  on  the  character 
of  Christ; ” 1  he  is  buried  with  him  through  baptism, 
or  “ baptized  into  his  death,”  “so  that,  as  Christ 
was  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
we  too  might  live  and  move  in  the  new  sphere 
of  Life.”  2 

Here  is  a  new  conception  of  efficiency,  a  ne^w 
life  attained  through  baptism,  a  gift  received 
rather  than  a  pledge  offered;  a  genuine  participa¬ 
tion,  as  if  through  death  and  resurrection,  with  the 
spirit  of  the  glorified  Lord.  The  disciple  has 
“died  with  Christ”  and  is  “raised  with  Christ.” 
It  was  to  be  the  unifying  act  of  the  Christian 
community:  ‘By  one  Spirit  we  have  all  been 
baptized  into  one  Body.”  3  It  is  not  a  mere  figure 
of  speech  which  he  employs,  or  a  moral  regenera¬ 
tion  which  he  describes,  but  the  language  of  exalted 
mysticism,  announcing  a  direct  participation  of 
the  believer  in  the  undying  life  of  his  Lord.  “You 
must  consider  yourselves  dead  to  sin  and  alive  to 
God  in  Christ  Jesus.”  4 

The  sources  from  which  Paul  derived  this  new 
and  daring  conception  of  baptism  seem  to  be  no 
longer  in  doubt.  No  intimation  of  this  transform- 


1  Gal.  iii.  27. 

2  Rom.  vi.  3,  4. 


3 1  Cor.  xii.  13. 
4  Rom.  vi.  11. 


RELIGION 


207 


ing  sacrament  meets  one  either  in  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  or  in  the  traditions  of  Hebrew  piety.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  mystery-religions  of  the  Oriental 
world,  which  had  already  become  familiar  through¬ 
out  the  Roman  Empire,  and  whose  language  Paul 
had  already  at  many  other  points  appropriated 
and  applied,  abounded  in  rites  of  initiation,  through 
which  the  neophyte  was  assumed  to  be  buried  and 
reborn  as  a  participant  with  the  Divine  life.  The 
Saviour-God,  Attis,  Mithra,  or  Serapis,  died  and 
rose  again,  and  his  devotees  were  permitted  through 
baptism  to  share  the  same  transfiguration,  and  be 
“ reborn  into  eternity,”  1 

Such  seems  to  have  been  the  tempting  circle  of 
foreign  ideas  which  invited  Paul’s  venturesome 
mind  as  he  committed  himself  passionately  to  a 
new  obedience.  “Our  baptism  into  his  death  made 
us  share  his  burial  ...  for  if  we  have  grown  into 
him  by  a  death  like  his,  we  shall  grow  into  him 
by  a  resurrection  like  his.”  2  Does  this  imply  that 
the  simplicity  of  Christian  tradition  had  been  al¬ 
together  supplanted  by  the  complexity  of  Hellenic 
mysticism,  and  that  Paul  was  in  effect  rather  a 
worshipper  of  Mithra  or  Isis  than  a  disciple  of  Jesus? 
On  the  contrary,  Paul’s  gift  for  appropriation  was 


1  Cf.  W.  Heitmiiller,  “Taufe  und  Abendmahl  im  Urchristen- 
tum,”  ss.  1-21.  W.  Bousset,  “Kyrios  Christos,”  2  te  Aufl.,  1921, 
ss.  107  ff.  Morgan,  op.  cit.,  pp.  128  ff.,  140  ff.  Kennedy,  “St. 
Paul  and  the  Mystery-Religions,”  1913,  pp.  229  ff.  Reitzenstein, 
“Die  Hellenistischen  Mysterienreligionen,”  2  te  Aufl.  1920,  ss. 
56  ff. 

2  Rom.  vi.  4,  5. 


20 8  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


never  more  conspicuous  than  at  this  point.  He 
utilizes  the  language  and  accepts  the  forms  of 
the  mystery-religions  for  the  satisfaction  of  his 
imagination;  but  at  once  proceeds  to  enrich  them 
with  a  moral  quality  of  which  Oriental  religion 
gives  no  sign.  The  fundamental  significance  of 
baptism  is  with  Paul  in  its  call  to  duty.  Hellenic 
mysticism  reacts  into  Hebrew  piety.  Though  it  be 
true  that  Paul  soars  away  into  the  clouds,  it  is  not 
less  true  that  he  makes  a  safe  landing  on  solid 
ground.  Whatever  affinity  he  has  found  between 
the  dying  and  rising  of  Christ  and  the  spiritual 
experience  of  Christ’s  disciple,  there  remains  in 
the  symbolism  of  baptism  a  pledge  of  moral  change. 
However  rashly  he  may  appropriate  foreign  ritual 
he  remains  at  heart  a  Jew.  Not  ecstatic  union 
with  the  Divine,  but  simple  righteousness,  is  his 
final  test.  “  Anyone  who  does  not  possess  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  does  not  belong  to  Him.  .  .  .  The 
spirit  is  living  as  the  result  of  righteousness.”  1 
“  You  must  not,”  he  says  again,  “let  sin  have  your 
members  for  the  service  of  vice,  you  must  dedicate 
yourselves  to  God  as  men  who  have  been  brought 
from  death  to  life.”  2  Thus  Paul’s  eager  mind 
moves,  as  it  were,  round  a  great  circle  of  faith,  from 
simplicity  to  complexity,  and  back  to  simplicity 
again;  from  the  natural  to  the  supernatural  and 
on  to  the  spiritual;  from  symbolism  to  sacrament 
and  on  to  loyalty.  Baptism  is  first  transformed 
from  morals  to  magic,  and  then  restored  to  morals. 

1  Rom.  viii.  g,  io.  Cf.  Heitmiiller,  op.  cit.,  ss.  24  ff. 

2  Rom.  vi.  13. 


RELIGION 


209 


“All  of  you  who  had  yourselves  baptized  into 
Christ  have  taken  on  the  character  of  Christ.”  1 
“Our  baptism  into  his  death  made  us  share  his 
burial,  so  that  ...  we  too  might  live  and  move  in 
the  new  sphere  of  Life.”  2 

The  Christian  Church  has  been  slow  to  follow 
the  apostle  over  the  entire  course  of  this  long  and 
circuitous  way.  It  has  been,  as  he  was,  arrested  by 
the  suggestiveness  of  Hellenic  mysticism,  and  its 
reverence  for  Christ  has  perpetuated  the  Pauline 
conception  of  a  drama  of  redemption  through 
fellowship  with  a  descending  God.  Baptism,  thus 
regarded,  becomes  an  exorcism  of  evil  spirits,  or  a 
magical  transformation  wrought  under  priestly 
hands.  It  is  a  long  way  from  the  simple  confession 
of  faith,  made  through  cleansing  immersion  by  a 
mature  convert,  to  a  petition  made  in  behalf  of  a 
guileless  infant:  “Forasmuch  as  all  men  are  con¬ 
ceived  and  born  in  sin  .  .  .  grant  to  this  child 
that  thing  which  by  nature  he  cannot  have  .  .  . 
that  he,  being  delivered  from  thy  wrath,  may  be 
received  into  the  ark  of  Christ’s  Church,  and  .  .  . 
that  he  may  receive  remission  of  his  sins  by  spiritual 
regeneration.”  3  It  was  this  aspect  of  the  Cate¬ 
chism  which  provoked  Samuel  Butler, — himself  the 
son  of  a  clergyman  and  the  grandson  of  a  bishop, — 
to  the  cynical  comment  that  “the  general  im¬ 
pression  it  leaves  upon  the  mind  of  the  young  is 

1  Gal.  iii.  27. 

2  Rom.  vi.  4. 

3  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Church  of  England,  Publick  Bap¬ 
tism  of  Infants. 


210  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


that  .  .  .  the  mere  fact  of  being  young  at  all  has 
something  with  it  that  savours  more  or  less  dis¬ 
tinctly  of  the  nature  of  sin/’  and  even  to  express 
regret  that  “the  person  who  composed  it  did  not 
get  a  few  children  to  come  in  and  help  him.”  1  In  a 
word,  the  history  of  baptism,  as  a  form  of  Chris¬ 
tian  symbolism,  might  be  described  as  the  history 
of  a  struggle,  at  times  successful,  but  often  ob¬ 
structed,  between  the  spirit  of  that  Master  who 
called  a  child  and  “set  it  among  them,”  saying  to 
his  disciples,  “Unless  you  turn  and  become  like 
children,  you  will  never  get  into  the  Realm  of  heaven 
at  all,”  2  and  the  persistent  inclination  to  identify 
religion  with  mystery  and  miracle  and  to  make  it 
an  instrument  of  sacerdotal  authority;  and  it  re¬ 
mains  for  the  modern  mind  to  abandon  these  ob¬ 
structive  claims  and  to  restore  to  the  rite  that 
spiritual  suggestiveness  and  beauty  which  it 
originally  held. 

The  second  of  the  symbolic  acts  which  express 
Paul’s  religious  life  was  the  commemoration  of  the 
Lord’s  Supper;  and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
tragic  transitions  in  history  that  a  form  so  obvi¬ 
ously  adopted  to  represent  the  intimate  unity  of 
Christian  discipleship  should  have  become  either  a 
barrier  of  exclusion  or  a  miraculous  ceremonial. 
If  the  purgation  of  an  infant  through  sacerdotal 
benediction  has  little  in  common  with  the  spirit 
of  him  who  said  “Let  the  children  come  to  me;”  3 

1  “The  Way  of  All  Flesh,”  Amer.  ed.  1916,  p.  35. 

2  Matt,  xviii.  3. 

3  Mark.  x.  14. 


RELIGION 


21 1 


what  can  be  said  of  the  transformation  of  an  even¬ 
ing  meal,  interpreted  by  Jesus  as  a  symbol  of 
affection,  into  a  sacrament  imparting  through 
priestly  intervention  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  tran¬ 
substantiated  flesh  and  blood?  Yet  this  transition, 
so  suprising  and  so  fateful,  is  in  no  small  degree 
due  to  the  fervid  imagination  and  glowing  rhetoric 
of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  the  progress  of  his  thought 
in  this  case,  as  in  that  of  baptism,  becomes  of  the 
most  poignant  interest. 

The  touching  story  of  the  Lord’s  Supper  is  told 
in  great  detail  by  Paul  and  by  all  three  of  the  syn- 
optists;  1  and  it  is  one  of  the  surprising  facts  of  the 
New  Testament  that  the  Fourth  Gospel,  which 
dwells  so  long  and  lovingly  on  the  last  days  of  the 
life  of  Jesus,  and  reports  in  such  detail  the  washing 
of  the  disciples’  feet  and  the  long  discourse  and 
prayer  of  farewell,  makes  no  direct  mention  of  the 
symbolism  of  bread  and  wine.  Nothing  could 
indicate  more  convincingly  the  later  origin  of  the 
spiritual  lyric  which  bears  the  name  of  the  beloved 
disciple  than  its  inclusion  of  so  much  which  the 
earlier  evangelists  do  not  report,  and  its  omission 
of  an  incident  on  which  they  all  so  tenderly  dwell. 

If,  of  the  three  accounts  in  the  Gospels,  that  of 
Mark  may  be  accepted  as  the  earliest  tradition, 
the  differences,  slight  as  they  may  appear,  between 
this  report  and  that  of  Paul,  are  singularly  sugges¬ 
tive.  In  Mark  there  is  no  allusion  to  an  institu¬ 
tional  form  or  permanent  rite,  but  the  natural 

*1  Cor.  xi.  23  ff.;  Matt,  xxvi,  26  ff.;  Mark  xiv.  22  ff.;  Luke 
xxii.  15  ff. 


212  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


and,  as  it  would  seem,  unpremeditated  use  of  the 
common  meal  which  was  the  last  in  which  the 
little  group  was  to  share.  “As  they  were  eating, 
he  took  a  loaf  and  after  the  blessing  he  broke  and 
gave  it  to  them,  saying,  ‘Take  this,  it  means  my 
body.  ’  He  also  took  a  cup  and  after  thanking  God 
he  gave  it  to  them,  and  they  all  drank  of  it;  he 
said  to  them,  ‘This  means  my  covenant-blood, 
which  is  shed  for  many;  truly  I  tell  you,  I  will  never 
drink  the  produce  of  the  vine  again  till  the  day  I 
drink  it  new  within  the  Realm  of  God.’”  1 
How  appealing  in  itself,  and  how  free  from  mys¬ 
tical  implications,  is  this  straightforward  story!  The 
intimate  fellowship  of  the  Master  with  his  friends 
was  to  be  unbroken  by  his  death.  They  must  live 
together  as  though  he  still  broke  bread  with  them 
and  gave  them  the  cup.  The  little  community  of 
believers  did  not  forget  their  Lord’s  last  wish. 
“Day  after  day  they  resorted  with  one  accord  to 
the  temple  and  broke  bread  together  in  their  own 
homes.”  2  Even  as  late  as  the  second  century  the 
same  symbolism,  marked  by  the  same  restraint, 
was  prescribed  for  the  growing  fellowship.  The 
remarkable  manual  of  worship,  so  fortunately 
discovered  in  1875,  and  known  as  the  “Teaching  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles,”  describes  in  detail  the 
primitive  practice:  “We  thank  thee,  our  Father, 
for  the  holy  vine  of  David  thy  servant,  which  thou 
hast  made  known  to  us  through  Jesus  thy  servant; 
to  thee  be  the  glory  forever.  And  concerning  the 
broken  bread:  We  thank  thee,  our  Father,  for  the 
1  Mark  xiv.  22  £E.  2  Acts  ii.  46. 


RELIGION 


213 


life  and  the  knowledge  which  thou  hast  made 
known  to  us  through  Jesus  thy  servant;  to  thee  be 
the  glory  forever.  Just  as  this  broken  bread  was 
scattered  over  the  hills  and  having  been  gathered 
together  became  one,  so  let  thy  church  be  gathered 
together  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  into  thy  king¬ 
dom;  for  thine  is  the  glory  and  the  power  through 
Jesus  Christ  forever.”  1 

Here  is  no  mystery,  no  miracle,  no  ceremonial 
ordinance,  no  allusion  to  an  atoning  sacrifice;  but  a 
common  prayer  of  thanksgiving  for  the  vine  which 
had  been  planted,  for  the  life  and  knowledge  made 
known  through  Jesus,  for  the  unity  of  scattered 
churches,  like  the  one  loaf  made  from  scattered 
seed,  and  for  the  spiritual  food  and  drink  received 
“  through  Jesus  thy  servant.”  Such  a  form  of 
thanksgiving  deserved  the  name  of  Eucharist.  It 
was  a  giving  of  thanks.  The  simplest  elements  of 
daily  food  became  permanent  witnesses  of  the 
Master’s  spiritual  presence. 

When  one  turns  from  this  elementary  symbolism 
to  the  narrative  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  it  must,  first 
of  all,  be  recalled  that  he  was  not  of  that  little 
group  which  met  at  the  first  Lord’s  Supper,  and, 
indeed,  was  throughout  his  teaching  but  slightly 
concerned  to  dwell  upon  the  events  of  the  human 
life  of  Jesus.  So  far  is  he  from  finding  in  this  com¬ 
memorative  meal  the  central  rite  of  Christian 
worship,  that  in  his  most  systematic  treatise,  the 
letter  to  the  Romans,  he  makes  no  mention  what- 

1  “Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,”  tr.  Hitchcock  and  Brown, 
1884,  chap.  ix. 


214  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

ever  of  the  Lord’s  Supper.  His  thought  is  fixed 
on  the  glorified  Christ.  His  Master  has  been 
revealed  by  dying,  rather  than  by  living.  When 
Paul  says,  “I  passed  on  to  you  what  I  received 
from  the  Lord  himself,”  1  he  seems  to  be  reporting 
a  vision  rather  than  describing  a  reminiscence.  In  a 
word,  Paul  takes  the  symbolism  of  the  Lord’s  Supper 
as  he  finds  it  already  accepted  by  the  Palestinian 
community,  and  his  impetuous  imagination  pro¬ 
ceeds  to  give  it  a  deeper  meaning  and  a  warmer 
coloring.  Of  the  bread  he  writes  that  Jesus  said: 
“This  means  my  body  broken  for  you,”  and  of 
the  wine:  “This  cup  means  the  new  covenant 
ratified  by  my  blood,”  and  of  both  it  is  added, 
“As  often  as  you  eat  this  loaf  and  drink  this  cup, 
you  proclaim  the  Lord’s  death  till  he  come.”  2 
Here  enters  a  new  significance  into  the  rite,  of 
which  the  primitive  tradition  gives  no  sign. 
“Broken  for  you”  recalls  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus, 
as  in  the  saying,  “Christ  our  paschal  lamb  has 
been  sacrificed.” 3  “Ratified  by  my  blood” 
changes  the  scene  from  one  of  living  companion¬ 
ship  to  one  of  atoning  sacrifice,  as  of  the  “slain 
Lamb”  of  the  Apocalypse.4  In  short,  a  symbol  is 
becoming  a  sacrament. 

The  change  is  reaffirmed  in  Paul’s  further 
comments  and  criticisms.  One  who  does  not 
partake  with  “a  proper  sense  of  the  Body” 
is  to  be  visited  by  Divine  displeasure.  “That 
is  why  many  of  you  are  ill  and  infirm,  and 

1 1  Cor.  xi.  23.  3 1  Cor.  v.  7. 

2 1  Cor.  xi.  23  ff.  4  Rev.  v.  12  et  al. 


RELIGION 


215 


a  number  even  dead.”  1  To  come  to  the  “table 
of  the  Lord”  is  to  escape  from  “the  table  of 
daemons.”  2  Still  further,  both  baptism  and  the 
supper  have  been,  it  is  affirmed,  prefigured  in  the 
history  of  Israel.  “All  were  baptized  into  Moses 
by  the  cloud  and  by  the  sea,  all  ate  the  same 
spiritual  food,  and  all  drank  the  same  spiritual 
drink.”  3  Here,  then,  as  in  baptism,  is  an  invasion 
of  new  ideas  among  the  tranquil  associations  of 
companionship  with  Jesus.  A  magical  effect  is 
to  be  procured  for  bodily  health,  a  deliverance  is 
promised  from  spiritual  enemies,  a  reproduction  of 
the  history  of  Israel  is  portrayed.  The  ritual  of 
the  mystery-religions  is  summoned  to  reenforce 
by  its  analogies  and  forms  the  apostle’s  expanding 
thought;  the  myths  of  Mithra  and  Attis,  prescrib¬ 
ing  a  sacred  meal  through  which  the  Divinity  was 
revealed,  soon  seemed  so  nearly  identical  with 
Christian  worship  that  Justin  Martyr  was  led  to 
describe  the  supper  of  Mithra-worship  as  a  devil¬ 
ish  imitation  of  the  Christian  rite.4 

Yet  though  these  alien  ideas  are  appropriated  by 
Paul  they  do  not  obscure  his  fundamental  desire. 
These  fragments  of  alien  traditions  which  seemed 
to  him  to  fortify  his  teaching  are,  in  fact,  mere 
interludes  and  amplifications.  After  all,  he  is  at 

lI  Cor.  xi.  29,  30.  2 1  Cor.  x.  21.  3 1  Cor.  x.  2-4. 

4  Justin  Martyr,  Apol.  i.  66  (tr.  Ante-Nicene  Fathers,  1885, 
Vol.  I,  p.  185:  “Which  the  wicked  devils  have  imitated  in  the 
mysteries  of  Mithras,  commanding  the  same  thing  to  be  done. 
For,  that  bread  and  a  cup  of  water  are  placed  with  certain  in- 
cantations  in  the  mystic  rites  of  one  who  is  being  initiated,  you 
either  know  or  can  learn.” 


216  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


heart,  not  a  speculative  philosopher,  but  a  prac¬ 
tical  counsellor.  Paul  “is  consciously  digging  in 
a  field  of  thought  that  is  not  his  own;”  he  “is 
working  less  with  his  own  categories  than  with 
those  of  his  readers.”  1  The  dominating  aim  of 
his  long  and  detailed  account  of  the  Last  Supper 
is  not  theological  but  ethical.  It  was  the  abuse 
of  the  Lord’s  Table  which  prompted  him  to  write, 
“In  your  church-meetings  I  am  told  that  cliques 
prevail.  And  I  partly  believe  it.”  2  It  was  the 
spiritual  significance  of  their  common  meal  which 
he  exhorted  them  to  remember.  Indeed,  the  same 
motive  might  be  applied  to  the  entire  conduct  of 
life.  “Whether  you  eat  or  drink,  or  whatever 
you  do,  let  it  be  all  done  for  the  glory  of  God.”  3 
Thus  his  versatile  and  receptive  mind  is  drawn 
toward  opposite  alternatives.  At  one  moment, 
he  seems  a  sacramentalist,  yet  at  another  he 
reaffirms  the  simplicity  of  Christian  symbolism; 
at  one  point  he  seems  to  approach  the  Mithraism 
which  may  have  been  familiar  to  him  in  Tarsus; 
then,  as  if  recovering  himself,  he  claims  what  he 
calls  “a  single  devotion  to  Christ.” 4  “The 
sacramental  conception,  it  must  be  in  general 
concluded,  contradicts  the  main  tendency  of  Paul’s 
theology,  and  reveals  a  mingling  of  foreign  and 
inconsistent  elements  with  the  lofty  piety  of  the 
gospel  of  Paul.”  5 

Here  again,  however,  as  in  the  case  of  baptism, 

1  Morgan,  op.  cit.,  p.  226.  4 II  Cor.  xi.  3. 

2 1  Cor.  xi.  18.  5  Heitmiiller,  op.  cit.,  s.  75. 

3 1  Cor.  x.  31. 


RELIGION 


217 


the  Christian  Church  has  been  tempted  to  prize 
and  perpetuate  the  very  elements  in  Paul’s  teach¬ 
ing  which  are  in  their  origin  extra-Christian, 
and  to  convert  the  beautiful  symbolism  of  the 
Lord’s  Supper  into  a  sacrament  which  is  more 
reminiscent  of  Mithra  than  of  Jesus.  It  remains 
for  the  modern  world  to  detach  from  this  appealing 
and  suggestive  commemoration  its  alien  elements, 
and  to  restore  the  fundamental  intention  of  the 
apostle,  as  a  skilful  workman  restores  the  long- 
concealed  features  of  an  ancient  work  of  art.  One 
after  another  layer  of  color  has  been  superimposed, 
as  if  to  increase  or  preserve  the  beauty  of  the 
original,  but,  in  fact,  disguising  or  defacing  that 
beauty;  while  beneath  these  accretions  lies,  wait¬ 
ing  for  the  modem  mind  to  recover  it,  the  original 
outlines  of  the  master’s  work. 

What,  then,  one  may  finally  ask,  are  to  be  the 
consequences  of  this  type  of  religious  life,  which 
thus  expresses  itself  in  words  of  prayer  and  acts 
of  symbolism?  They  must  be  in  part  spiritual 
and  personal,  and  in  part  external  and  social. 
From  such  an  experience  there  must  issue,  first,  a 
sustaining  state  of  mind,  and  then  a  fellowship  of 
kindred  souls.  The  first  consequence  is  what 
Paul  describes  as  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit;  the  second 
is  what  he  variously  describes  as  the  “Body  of 
Christ,”  the  “fellowship  of  the  spirit,”  or  “the 
church  of  God.” 

The  personal  consequences  of  faith  are  enumer¬ 
ated  in  various  summaries  with  lofty  confidence. 


218  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


The  “harvest  of  the  Spirit,”  as  he  writes  in  one 
letter,  is  “joy,  peace,  good  temper,  kindliness, 
generosity,  fidelity,  gentleness,  self-control;”  1  and 
again,  “May  the  God  of  your  hope  so  fill  you  with 
all  joy  and  peace  in  your  faith,  that  you  may  be 
overflowing  with  hope  by  the  power  of  the  holy 
Spirit!”  2  A  glad  exhilaration,  a  conscious  happi¬ 
ness,  is  thus  attained  for  the  steadying  of  conduct 
and  the  control  of  emotion.  It  is  a  most  curious 
fact  that  the  word  Fear  hardly  appears  in  the 
vocabulary  of  Paul,  save  when  he  quotes  from 
ancient  Scripture,3  or  where  the  word  is  equivalent 
either  to  self-distrust 4  or  to  respect.5  On  the 
other  hand,  the  word  Joy  occurs  repeatedly,  like  a 
motif  which  indicates  the  dominant  thought. 
“We  cooperate  for  your  joy,” 6  he  writes;  that 
“my  joy  would  be  a  joy  for  every  one  of  you;”  7 
and,  even  at  the  close  of  his  wanderings,  with 
prison  and  chains  immediately  before  him,  he  is 
reported  as  making  the  solemn  affirmation,  “I 
set  no  value  on  my  own  life  as  compared  with  the 
joy  of  finishing  my  course  and  fulfilling  the  com¬ 
mission  I  received.”  8 

It  was  a  habit  of  mind  so  remote  from  much 
which  passes  for  religion  that  it  might  seem  in¬ 
appropriate  or  even  vulgar.  Instead  of  joy  in 
work  and  worship,  instead  of  an  attitude  toward 
life  which  delights,  as  Isaac  Watts  wrote, 

1  Gal.  v.  22,  23.  5  Rom.  xiii.  7. 

2  Rom.  xv.  13.  6 II  Cor.  i.  24. 

3  Rom.  iii.  18  A.  V.;  Ps.  xxxvi.  1.  7 II  Cor.  ii.  3. 

4 1  Cor.  ii.  3.  8  Acts  xx.  24. 


RELIGION 


219 


“To  run  the  heavenly  race 
And  put  a  cheerful  courage  on,” 


religion  has  been  widely  accepted  as  a  submissive 
and  chastening  experience,  promoted  rather  by 
timidity  than  by  courage;  and  Paul’s  brave  sum¬ 
mons  is  as  timely  as  ever  to  a  reign  of  God  which 
means  integrity,  cheerfulness,  and  serenity,  or,  in 
his  words,  “  righteousness,  joy,  and  peace  in  the 
holy  Spirit.”  1  Instead  of  being,  as  he  has  been 
often  described,  the  preacher  of  a  religion  of  fear, 
warning  trembling  souls  from  the  wrath  of  God, 
Paul  is  the  most  convincing  witness  in  Christian 
history  of  the  unperturbed  confidence  and  un¬ 
clouded  joy  which  are  the  natural  consequence  of  a 
profound  religious  faith.  Through  all  the  vicis¬ 
situdes  of  his  troubled  experience  he  maintains  the 
gift  for  enjoying  life,  and  reminds  the  modem 
reader  of  that  gift  for  sympathy  which  his  Lord 
manifested,  and  which  has  led  one  modern  student 
to  describe  Jesus  as  the  “  Joyous  Comrade.”  2  No 
prayer  for  his  fellow- Christians  is  more  character¬ 
istic  of  Paul  than  the  petition,  “May  the  God  of 

1  Rom.  xiv.  17. 

2 Zangwill,  “Dreamers  of  the  Ghetto,”  1899,  p.  491:  “Christ, 
not  the  tortured  God,  but  the  joyous  comrade,  the  friend  of  all 
simple  souls;  the  joyous  comrade,  with  the  children  clinging  to 
him,  and  peasants  and  fishers  listening  to  his  chat.  ...  I  have 
worked  at  this  human  picture  of  him — the  joyous  comrade — to 
restore  the  true  Christ  to  the  world.”  See  also  A.  Wunsche, 
“Der  lebensfreudige  Jesus,”  1876,  s.  24:  “We  propose  to  show 
that  Jesus  was  in  reality  a  cheerful  and  happy  personality,  re¬ 
joicing  in  victory.” 


2  20  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


your  hope  so  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  your 
faith.”  1 

Very  far  from  continuous  or  consistent  this 
healthy-minded  serenity  might  be.  There  were 
reversions  of  mood  and  conflicts  of  spirit,  so  that 
Paul  cries,  “ Miserable  wretch  that  I  am!  Who 
will  rescue  me  from  this  body  of  death?  ”  2  Between 
his  shifting  moods  and  the  habitual  serenity  of  his 
Master  the  contrast  is  most  impressive.  Jesus 
moves  above  these  waves  of  rising  and  falling  faith 
as  though  he  walked  on  them;  Paul  struggles 
through  them  and  arrives,  panting,  at  the  shore. 
Yet  the  ideal  which  Paul  at  times  discerns,  as 
though  he  were  lifted  on  a  crest  of  the  sea  and 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  land  within  his  reach,  is 
none  other  than  that  which  Jesus  steadily  main¬ 
tained.  The  peace  of  mind  which  Paul  longs  to 
reach  is  no  absorption  in  the  Infinite,  such  as  the 
mystery-religions  promised,  but  the  tranquillizing 
effect  of  duty  done.  Generosity,  fidelity,  good- 
temper,  self-control, — or  what  the  Hebrew  tradi¬ 
tion  had  summarized  as  righteousness, — were 
to  Paul  the  essence  of  faith  and  the  harvest  of  the 
spirit.  Here  is  no  tremulous  or  apprehensive  in¬ 
quirer,  but  a  resilient  and  triumphant  believer. 
“Rejoice,”  he  cries,  “I  will  say  it  again,  ‘re¬ 
joice.’”3 

Here  is  the  underlying  and  substantial  Paul. 
Ecstasies,  enthusiasm,  the  “pneumatic  gifts,” 
were  constantly  soliciting  his  ardent  mind;  but 
as  he  reflects  on  the  real  nature  of  the  life  in 

1  Rom.  xv.  13.  2  Rom.  vii.  24.  3  Phil.  iv.  4. 


RELIGION 


221 


Christ,  his  sane  and  practical  reason  reasserts 
itself,  and  the  same  teacher  who  in  a  moment  of 
enthusiasm  tells  his  friends  that  “they  are  selected 
by  grace,  and  therefore  not  for  anything  they 
have  done/’ 1  is  not  less  explicit  in  prescribing  a 
moral  test  of  such  selection:  “The  spirit  is  living 
as  the  result  of  righteousness.”  2  The  religion  of 
Paul  thus  becomes  not  so  much  a  justification  of 
mystic  ecstasies  as  their  corrective.  The  gift  of 
vision  is  balanced  in  Paul  by  the  grasp  of  facts. 
His  eyes  are  on  the  stars,  but  his  feet  are  on  the 
ground.  He  mounts  to  lofty  speculations  on  the 
method  of  redemption,  when  at  last  the  risen 
Christ  “hands  over  his  royal  power  to  God  the 
Father”;3  but  then,  as  though  these  sublime 
anticipations  might  make  one  indifferent  to  the 
common  duties  of  life,  he  abruptly  descends  to  the 
plain  talk  of  a  sensible  friend:  “Get  back  to  your 
sober  senses  and  avoid  sin.”  4  In  a  word,  with  all 
its  variations  of  mood  and  language,  the  religion  of 
Paul  is  fundamentally  what  the  modem  world  so 
insistently  demands,  a  religion  of  sanctified  sanity 
and  illuminated  common  sense. 

There  remain  to  be  observed  the  external  and 
social  consequences  of  Paul’s  religious  life.  An 
experience  so  profound  and  revolutionary  could 
not  remain  isolated  or  self-sufficient.  The  con¬ 
summation  of  Paul’s  faith  in  joy  and  peace  pledged 
him  to  communicate  those  gifts  and  to  make  them 
common  possessions.  All  along  the  Mediterranean 

1  Rom.  xi.  6.  3 1  Cor.  xv.  24. 

2  Rom.  viii.  10.  4 1  Cor.  xv.  34. 


222  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

coast  communities  of  disciples  were  fortified  by  his 
influence  and  accepted  his  authority.  He  becomes 
not  only  the  philosopher  and  moralist,  but  the 
organizer  of  these  infant  churches.  He  sets  forth 
with  Silas,  through  Syria  and  Cilicia,  strengthening 
the  churches;  1  he  lays  down  a  rule  “for  all  the 
churches”; 2  he  writes  “to  the  church  of  God  at 
Corinth.”  3  “The  pressing  business  each  day”  is 
“the  care  of  all  the  churches.”  4 

Yet  in  these  reiterated  counsels  there  is  singu¬ 
larly  little  indication  of  any  formal  plan  of  gov¬ 
ernment.  A  church,  or  ecclesia,  was  to  him  a 
group  of  people  whom  the  Spirit  had  gathered 
out  of  the  world,  and  who  were  pledged  to 
Christian  loyalty.5  It  might  be  those  who  met 
with  Aquila  and  Prisca  “in  their  house,”6  or  with 
Philemon  and  “the  church  that  meets  in  your 
house,”  7  or  the  “consecrated  and  faithful  brothers 
in  Christ  at  Colossse.”  8  In  any  case,  it  was  the 

1  Acts  xv.  41. 

2 1  Cor.  vii.  17. 

3 1  Cor.  i.  2. 

4 II  Cor.  xi.  28. 

6  Cf.  A.  Sabatier,  “Religions  of  Authority  and  the  Religion  of 
the  Spirit,”  tr.  1904;  appendix,  p.  384:  “The  word  eKKXrjm 'a, 
church,  is  found  twice  only  upon  the  lips  of  Jesus,  and  in  only  one 
Gospel  (Matt.  16  18;  18  17).  In  the  second  case,  the  word  church 
signifies  simply  the  assembling  of  the  brethren,  the  Christian 
synagogue.  The  former  text  is  wanting  in  the  parallel  passages  of 
Mark  and  Luke,  and  this  omission  is  incomprehensible  if  these 
evangelists  had  found  it  in  the  first  logia  of  Matthew,”  etc. 

6 1  Cor.  xvi.  19. 

7  Philemon  2. 

8  Col.  i.  2. 


RELIGION 


223 


inner  bond,  the  spiritual  unity,  which  had  detached 
this  obscure  group  of  families  and  friends  from  the 
environing  world.  Indeed,  there  could  be  no  serious 
desire  for  permanence  of  organization  while  Paul  and 
his  hearers  were  anticipating  a  return  of  their  Lord, 
and  when,  as  he  writes,  “the  Day  breaks  in  fire, 
and  the  fire  will  test  the  work  of  each,  no  matter 
what  that  work  may  be.”  1  “We  are,”  he  writes 
to  the  Philippians,  “a  colony  of  heaven,  and  we 
wait  for  the  Saviour  who  comes  from  heaven.”  2 
It  is  a  striking  fact,  therefore,  that  though  the 
organization  of  the  Christian  church  began  with 
Paul,  no  form  of  organization  was  prescribed 
by  him.  It  was  merely  the  abuse  of  liberty,  and 
the  uncontrolled  enthusiasm  of  the  saints,  which 
led  him  to  prescribe  orderliness  and  superintend¬ 
ence.  “Let  everything,”  he  urges,  “be  for  edifica¬ 
tion.  As  for  speaking  in  a  ‘tongue,’  let  only  two 
or  at  most  three  speak  at  one  meeting,  and  that  in 
turn.”  3  Thus  he  builded,  not  perhaps  better,  but 
certainly  otherwise,  than  he  knew,  and  by  one  of 
the  perversions  of  history  has  come  to  be  regarded 
as  the  sponsor  of  an  organization  from  which  his 
passion  for  liberty  would  have  probably  rebelled. 
As  he  became  the  founder  of  Christian  theology 
though  not  himself  a  theologian,  so  he  became  the 
founder  of  the  Christian  Ecclesia  though  not 
himself  an  ecclesiastic.  For  him  there  was  but  one 
test  of  a  pure  church.  It  was  its  possession,  not  of 
clerical  orders  or  uniform  rites,  but  of  personal 
loyalty  to  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Where  that  spirit 
1 1  Cor.  iii.  13.  2  Phil.  iii.  20.  3  I  Cor.  xiv.  26,  27. 


224  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

prevailed  and  inspired  a  community,  there  was  a 
church.  A  village  prayer-meeting  in  the  modern 
world,  where  piety  is  genuine  and  fervent,  may  be 
more  Pauline  in  type  as  a  church  than  a  hierarchy 
of  priests  or  a  convocation  of  clergy.  The  accredited 
officials  of  a  church  were  to  him,  not  Divinely 
appointed  instruments  of  grace,  but  delegated 
guardians  of  liberty.1  Only  once,  and  in  one  of 
his  latest  letters,  does  Paul  definitely  mention 
official  direction,  and  here  he  greets  primarily 
“all  the  saints,”  and  adds,  as  if  by  an  after- thought, 
“as  well  as  the  bishops  and  deacons.”  2  These 
brethren,  it  would  appear,  were  administrative 
agents  rather  than  superior  officers,  caretakers  of 
the  community  rather  than  Princes  of  the  Church. 

And  what  are  to  be  the  evidences  that  this  life  of 
the  spirit  has  been,  in  any  community,  attained? 
They  are  to  be  found  in  the  possession  of  certain 
“spiritual  gifts”  3  which  testify,  in  varied  ways 
and  degrees,  to  an  effective  religion.  Paul  enumer¬ 
ates  these  marks  of  a  working  faith,  and  his  list  is 
in  the  highest  degree  instructive,  both  for  that 
which  it  includes  and  for  the  order  in  which  these 
gifts  are  named.  He  does  not  scorn  the  evidence 
offered  by  the  ecstatic  utterances  which  religious 
emotion  prompted,  and  which  at  their  first  appear- 

1  Cf.  Weinel,  “Paulus,”  2te  Aufl.  1915,  s.  165:  “Such  is  the 
Church,  and  towards  its  organization  Paul  takes  the  first  step, 
little  as  he  meant  to  take  it.  He  took  it  by  necessity,  and  often 
against  his  best  and  deepest  desires.”  Cf.  also,  the  first  edition, 
Engl.  Trans.,  pp.  209  if. 

2  Phil.  i.  1. 


RELIGION 


225 


ance  suggested  drunkenness  or  insanity.1  Nor  does 
he  deny  the  gifts  which  prophets  or  healers  may 
possess,  in  interpreting  truth  or  curing  bodies. 
He  also,  he  says,  has  received  “  visions  and  revela¬ 
tions”;  2  he  also  can  “ speak  in  1  tongues.’”  3  Yet 
this  tolerance,  which  sometimes  seems  to  approach 
laxity,  is  restrained  by  a  controlling  sense  of  propor¬ 
tion,  which  sets  above  all  gifts  of  wonder-working 
enthusiasm  the  higher  evidence  offered  by  what 
he  calls  Wisdom.  The  most  characteristic  mark  of 
the  Christian  religion,  in  other  words,  is  to  be  its 
sanity,  its  discernment,  its  discriminating  and  inter¬ 
pretative  power.  Wisdom,  to  Paul,  is  not  identical 
with  that  which  the  Greeks  meant  by  the  word. 
Paul’s  wisdom  is  not  learning.  “  Knowledge,” 
he  says,  “puffs  up”;4  wisdom  is  not  scholarship 
but  insight.  “It  is  my  prayer  that  your  love  may 
be  more  and  more  rich  in  knowledge  and  all  manner 
of  insight,  enabling  you  to  have  a  sense  of  what  is 
vital.”  5  In  short,  while  Paul  is  tolerant  of  the 
emotional  extravagances  which  flooded  in  on  the 
Christian  life,  his  teaching,  as  has  been  wisely  said, 
“lifts  itself  out  of  paganism  by  its  sobriety,”  6  and 
his  final  desire  for  those  who  are  in  the  spirit  is 
that  God  may  “fill  you  with  the  knowledge  of  his 
will  in  all  spiritual  wisdom  and  insight.”  7 

Such  is  the  exalted  conception  of  a  Christian 
Church  which  issues  from  the  religion  of  Paul.  In 

1  Acts  ii.  13;  I  Cor.  xiv.  23. 

2 II  Cor.  xii.  1. 

3 1  Cor.  xiv.  18. 

4 1  Cor.  viii.  1. 


6  Phil.  i.  9. 

6  Morgan,  op.  tit.,  p.  172. 
?  Col.  i.  9. 


226  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

the  literal  sense  of  the  word,  he  is  a  High  Church¬ 
man;  for  a  church  is  to  him  not  a  group  of  func¬ 
tionaries,  prescribing  regulations  and  exercising 
authority,  or  an  association  for  the  promoting  of 
dogmatic  consent,  but  a  spiritual  democracy  which 
has  been  lifted  to  a  high  plane  of  habitual  conduct, 
where  membership  is  gained  by  spiritual  intimacy 
with  Christ,  and  where  the  best  gift  is  that  of 
wisdom.  This  lofty  ideal  of  a  true  church  is  boldly 
affirmed  by  Paul  in  his  striking  figure  of  the  body 
of  Christ,  with  its  joints  and  sinews,1  and  it  is  a 
singular  perversion  of  his  thought  which  has  applied 
this  figure  to  the  Church  as  a  form  of  government 
or  a  corporate  unity.  The  apostolic  conception  is 
not  only  more  elevated,  but  more  true  to  the 
figure  of  speech  employed.  A  body  is  dead  without 
an  indwelling  spirit.  A  body  is  the  bearer  and 
witness  of  a  soul.  Health  for  the  body  is  not  se¬ 
cured  by  physical  form  but  by  interior  vitality. 
So  it  is,  Paul  teaches,  with  the  body  of  Christ.  It 
is  the  organ  of  the  spirit.  It  is  not  one  body  unless 
its  members,  though  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,2 
each  member  fulfilling  its  part  because  the  Spirit 
rules  them  all.  Christian  unity,  that  is  to  say,  is 
to  be  attained,  not  by  prescription  of  conformity, 
but  by  increase  of  consecration.  A  church  is  not  an 
administrative,  but  a  spiritual,  creation.  As  the 
body  is  the  organ  of  the  mind,  so  the  Church  is  the 
organ  of  the  spirit.  Its  health  and  growth  depend, 
not  on  its  definition  of  the  nature  of  Christ,  but 
on  its  fellowship  with  the  spirit  of  Christ.  “Any- 
1  Col.  ii.  19.  2 1  Cor.  xii.  27. 


RELIGION 


227 


one  who  does  not  possess  the  Spirit  of  Christ  does 
not  belong  to  Him.”  1  Many  a  modern  effort 
to  establish  Christian  unity  through  consent  to 
creeds  or  assent  to  authority  is  confronted  by  stern 
rebuke  when  it  encounters  this  lofty  ideal  of  the 
Body  of  Christ,  which  is  the  consummation  of 
Paul’s  religion.  What  is  it,  indeed,  but  the  reitera¬ 
tion  of  that  sublime  prayer  which  the  Fourth 
Gospel  reports  as  the  last  desire  of  Paul’s  Master 
for  his  followers, — “that  they  may  be  made  per¬ 
fectly  one;”  2  not  primarily  in  their  opinions  or 
their  practices,  but  in  that  spiritual  affinity  which, 
in  a  poor  human  way,  may  reflect  the  kinship  of 
Jesus  with  the  Father  to  whom  he  prays,  “  As  thou, 
Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,  so  may  they  be  in 
us,  .  .  .  that  they  may  be  one  as  we  are  one.”  3 

1  Rom.  viii.  9. 


2  John  xvii.  23. 


3  John  xvii.  21,  22. 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  ETHICS  OE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

When  one  turns  from  the  complexity  of  Paul’s 
theology  and  the  mysticism  of  his  religion  and 
approaches  his  ethical  teaching,  it  is  as  if  one  were 
emerging  from  a  tangled  and  bewildering  forest 
into  a  sunny  clearing  on  a  well-marked  road.  The 
instructions  and  exhortations  with  which  Paul 
concludes  each  of  his  letters  are  so  spontaneous, 
specific  and  practical,  that  they  seem  to  proceed 
from  quite  another  Paul  than  the  philosophical  and 
visionary  teacher;  or  rather  to  exhibit  the  real 
Paul,  extricating  himself  from  his  entangled  specu¬ 
lations,  and  rejoicing  in  plain  language  and  obvious 
truths. 

At  the  close  of  his  earliest  letter,  for  example, 
after  announcing  a  series  of  lofty  and  dubi¬ 
ous  speculations  concerning  the  descending  Lord, 
the  trumpet  of  God,  and  the  souls  “caught  up  to 
meet  the  Lord  in  the  air,”  he  suddenly  descends 
to  homely  and  prosaic  maxims:  “Be  at  peace  among 
yourselves;”  “Keep  a  check  upon  loafers;” 
“Never  lose  your  temper;”  “Aim  at  what  is  kind 
to  one  another  and  to  all  the  world.”  1  Warnings 
and  exhortations  succeed  each  other  in  a  stream  of 
headlong  precipitancy;  and  when,  later,  he  enumer- 

1 1  Thess.  v.  13  ff. 

228 


ETHICS 


229 


ates  the  virtues  which  he  commends,  he  gives  the 
same  impression  of  a  release  from  restraint,  as 
though  what  had  preceded  had  caused  him  intel¬ 
lectual  effort,  and  at  last  he  was  unembarrassed 
and  free.  ‘Love,  joy,  peace,”  he  says,  “good 
temper,  kindliness,  generosity,  fidelity,  gentle¬ 
ness,  self-control: — there  is  no  law  against  those 
who  practice  such  things.”  1  “Be  clothed  with 
compassion,  kindliness,  humility,  gentleness,  and 
good  temper.”  2  “Keep  in  mind  whatever  is  true, 
whatever  is  worthy,  whatever  is  just,  whatever  is 
pure,  whatever  is  attractive,  whatever  is  high- 
toned,  all  excellence,  all  merit.”  3  “Let  your  love 
be  a  real  thing;  .  .  .  associate  with  humble  folk; 
never  be  self-conceited;  ...  do  not  let  evil  get 
the  better  of  you;  get  the  better  of  evil  by  doing 
good.”  4  How  perennially  applicable,  how  con¬ 
vincing  in  their  terseness  and  even  in  their  humor, 
such  admonitions  and  persuasions  are!  What  a 
sense  of  relief  is  felt  by  many  a  plain  reader  as  he 
passes  from  the  jungle  of  Paul’s  argumentation,  and 
finds  himself  in  the  open  country  of  this  healthy- 
minded  morality!  Here  at  least  it  would  seem  is 
teaching  to  which  the  modern  world  may  still 
listen,  as  to  timely  truth.5 

1  Gal.  v.  22-23.  3  Phil.  iv.  8. 

2  Col.  iii.  12.  4  Rom.  xii.  9  ff. 

5  It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  the  earliest  existing  comment 
on  the  teaching  of  Paul,  that  of  Clement  of  Rome,  who,  according 
to  Irenaeus,  had  “seen  and  conversed  with  the  blessed  apostles,” 
singles  out  as  the  distinguishing  mark  of  Paul’s  mission  his  ethical 
teaching:  “After  that  he  had  been  seven  times  in  bonds,  had  been 
driven  into  exile,  had  been  stoned,  had  preached  in  the  East  and  in 


230  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

It  soon  appears,  however,  that  nowhere  in 
Paul’s  writings  does  one  encounter  more  obvious 
marks  of  the  varied  influences  which  jenviron  him, 
and  that  nowhere  is  there  more  need  of  discrimi¬ 
nation  in  estimating  his  words.  Mystery-cults, 
Hebrew  traditions,  and  Roman  indifference  beset 
him  on  every  side.  He  is  defending  a  new  cause 
against  a  hostile  world.  Those  who  “knew  God” 
have  “turned  to  futile  speculations  till  their  igno¬ 
rant  minds  grew  dark.”  1  It  is  for  him  to  maintain 
a  “good”  or  “clear”  conscience,2  and  to  rescue  his 
hearers  from  the  moral  degradation  of  their  own 
time.  That,  he  says,  is  to  be  “your  cult,  a  spiritual 
rite.”  3  Here,  then,  as  in  the  case  of  his  theology 
and  of  his  religion,  it  must  be  recognized  that  much 
of  the  teaching  is  of  temporary  or  local  or  racial 
significance  alone.  Instructions  concerning  “food 
that  has  been  offered  to  idols,”  4  rebukes  of  “men 
who  are  keen  upon  you  getting  circumcised,”  5 
political  adjustments  under  the  authority  of  Rome,6 
suggestions  that  “while  long  hair  is  disgraceful  for 
a  man,  for  a  woman  long  hair  is  a  glory,”  7  are 
obviously  inapplicable  or  meaningless  to  another 
age  and  civilization.  The  more  specific  and  inti¬ 
mate  such  exhortations  and  warnings  become 

the  West,  he  won  the  noble  renown  which  was  the  reward  of  his 
faith,  having  taught  righteousness  to  the  whole  world.”  Light- 
foot,  “St.  Clement  of  Rome,  An  Appendix,  Epistle  to  the  Corin¬ 
thians,”  1877,  p.  348. 

1  Rom.  i.  21. 

2  Acts  xxiii.  1;  xxiv.  16. 

3  Rom.  xii.  1 . 

4 1  Cor.  viii.  1. 


6  Gal.  vi.  12. 

6  Rom.  xiii.  1  ff. 

7 1  Cor.  xi.  14-15. 


ETHICS 


23I 


among  the  troubled  conditions  of  Paul’s  own  time, 
the  more  they  are  likely  to  be  regarded  as  local, 
provincial,  or  even  unintelligible. 

It  must  still  further  be  remembered  that  the 
area  of  Paul’s  practical  ethics  was  bounded  by 
another  presupposition.  Before  his  mind,  as 
before  the  minds  of  his  people,  hung  always  the 
shadow  of  an  impending  world-catastrophe,  which 
would  soon  make  an  end  of  existing  institutions  and 
bring  in  a  new  order  of  the  world.  With  this  dread 
anticipation  before  him,  there  could  be  but  slight 
concern  for  revolutions  in  government  or  change  in 
“ government-authorities.”  1  Even  the  condition  of 
slavery,  or  any  other  external  circumstance,  must 
be  inherently  transient  and  incidental.  All  he 
needs  to  say  under  such  conditions  is  that:  “  A  slave 
who  is  called  to  be  in  the  Lord  is  a  freedman  of  the 
Lord.  Just  as  a  free  man  who  is  called  is  a  slave  of 
Christ.”  2  His  counsels  are  given  under  circum¬ 
stances  which  he  describes  as  “the  imminent 
distress  in  these  days,”  and  his  advice  is  that  “you 
remain  just  as  you  are,”  “for  the  present  phase  of 
things  is  passing  away.”  3 

One  must  therefore  approach  the  ethics  of  Paul, 
not  as  though  it  were  a  system  of  moral  philosophy 
valid  for  all  times,  but  as  the  adaptation  of  his 
ideals  to  the  definite  conditions  of  civilization  in 
the  Roman  world.  Great  words  of  ethics,  it  is 
true, — Flesh,  Spirit,  Mind,  Conscience,  the  carnal 
and  the  spiritual  man, — recur  like  motifs  in  his 
letters,  and  recall  the  system-makers  of  Greece 
1  Rom.  xiii.  1.  2 1  Cor.  vii.  22;  Col.  iii.  n.  3 1  Cor.  vii.  26,  31. 


2 32  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


and  Rome.  Analogies  with  Plato,  coincidences 
with  Seneca,  parallels  with  Philo,  have  been  confi¬ 
dently  traced,  and  it  is  manifestly  improbable  that 
a  student,  born  as  was  Paul  where  the  philosophy 
of  Stoicism  was  dominant,  could  leave  that  lofty 
doctrine  wholly  unappropriated.1 

Yet  these  researches  concerning  the  place  of  Paul 
in  the  history  of  moral  philosophy  may  disguise 
rather  than  clarify  his  controlling  aim.  For  the 
obvious  fact  is  that  he  is  not  concerned  with  ex- 
pounding  a  philosophy  of  conduct,  but  is  simply 
considering  those  specific  problems  of  duty  which 

1  Cf.  Alexander,  “The  Ethics  of  St.  Paul,”  1910,  pp.  36,  42,  46. 
Jowett,  op.  cit.,  I.  363,  “St.  Paul  and  Philo.”  J.  Weiss,  “Die 
Bedeutung  des  Paulusfurden  modernen  Christen”,  in  “Zeitschrift 
fur  die  N.  T.  Wiss.,”  1919-20,  s.  142:  “It  is  the  Stoic  note  in  his 
ethics,  the  emphasis  on  freedom  (I  Cor.  6  12)  and  on  the  kingly 
mastery  of  the  world  (I  Cor.  3  21  ff.),  the  Greek  accent  in  certain 
demands,  as  for  instance  for  ‘honor’  (I  Thess.  4  4)  and  for 
‘decorum’  (I  Cor.  7  35)  which  can  add  iron  to  a  time  suffering  as 
ours  is  from  moral  anaemia.”  So  also  W.  W.  Fowler,  “The 
Religious  Experience  of  the  Roman  People,”  1911,  pp.  381,  454, 
455 :  “Stoicism,  as  we  shall  see,  held  out  a  hand  to  the  new  move¬ 
ment.  .  .  .  But  the  thought  that  our  senses  and  our  reason  are 
not  after  all  the  sole  fountains  of  our  knowledge,  a  thought  which 
is  the  essence  of  mysticism,  was  really  foreign  to  Stoicism.  .  .  . 
These  imaginative  yearnings  were  not  native  to  the  Roman.  .  .  . 
But  the  mere  fact  that  they  were  in  the  air  at  Rome  is  of  impor¬ 
tance.  .  .  .  They  prepared  the  Roman  mind  for  Christian  escha¬ 
tology.  ...  St.  Paul  exactly  expresses  the  yearning  thus  dimly 
foreshadowed  in  the  mystical  movement  (II  Cor.  v.  4).” 

So  Gummere,  “Seneca  the  Philosopher,”  1922,  pp.  54,  69: 
“Stoicism  was  the  porch  to  Christianity.  .  .  .  No  doubt  St.  Paul 
was  in  Rome  during  Seneca’s  lifetime,  and  it  is  not  inconceiv¬ 
able  that  they  may  have  met  and  exchanged  ideas.” 


ETHICS 


233 


meet  one  who  is  already  committed  to  the  cause 
of  Christ.  Not  ethics  in  general,  but  Christian 
ethics,  is  his  theme.  The  profound  experience  of 
his  conversion  has  made  him  a  “new  man,”  and 
he  now  inquires  what  a  man  thus  made  new 
should  be  and  do.  His  ethics  is  in  reality  applied 
religion.  It  assumes  that  he  is  writing  to  those 
who  have  “taken  on  the  character  of  Christ.”  1 
Scholastic  learning,  in  so  far  as  it  is  familiar  to 
him,  excites  his  contempt  rather  than  his  admira¬ 
tion.  Knowledge,  he  says,  “will  be  superseded.”  2 
Christian  duty  is  conduct  done  in  the  sight  of 
God.  “Lead  a  life  worthy  of  the  God  who  called 
you.”  “Do  you  not  know  you  are  God’s  temple?” 
“Glorify  God  with  your  body.”  3  Such  are  the 
characteristic  admonitions  in  which  morality  be¬ 
comes  a  corollary  of  faith,  and  religion  is  expressed 
in  ethics.  Christian  behavior  is  the  consequence 
of  Christian  conviction.  The  categorical  impera¬ 
tive  of  duty  is  supplanted  by  the  sense  of  God’s 
persuasion.  “Man  is  no  longer  governed  by 
‘Thou  shalt’  but  by  ‘I  will.’”  4 

No  sooner  has  one  recognized  this  limitation 
in  Paul’s  ethics  than  there  is  disclosed  the  real 
nature  of  the  moral  authority  claimed  by  him.  If 
one  turns  to  Paul  for  direction  concerning  modern 
politics,  or  the  regulation  of  marriage,  or  the 

1  Gal.  iii.  27. 

2 1  Cor.  xiii.  8;  cf.  viii.  1. 

3 1  Thess.  ii.  12;  I  Cor.  iii.  16;  I  Cor.  vi.  20. 

4  Weinel,  “St.  Paul,”  tr.  1906,  p.135.  The  phrase  is  not  used 
in  the  second  edition. 


234  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

rules  of  propriety  for  women,  he  immediately  finds 
himself  involved  in  counsels  which  are  imprac¬ 
ticable,  archaic,  or  even,  to  the  modem  mind, 
absurd.  Civic  duty  could  mean  to  Paul  little 
more  than  endurance  of  the  Roman  yoke; 1  mar¬ 
riage  is  tolerated  by  him  as  an  institution  to  be 
soon  supplanted  by  that  higher  state  where,  as 
Jesus  had  said,  “  people  neither  marry  nor  are  mar¬ 
ried,  they  are  like  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven”; 2 
sexual  impurity  is  condemned  by  Paul,  not  pri¬ 
marily  for  its  harm  to  another  or  to  society,  but  for 
the  self-degradation  it  works  in  a  “  member  of 
Christ.”  “The  body  is  not  meant  for  immorality 
but  for  the  Lord.  .  .  .  Your  bodies  are  members 
of  Christ.  Am  I  to  take  Christ’s  members  and 
devote  them  to  a  harlot?”3  Restriction  on 
praying  “in  tongues,”  4  or  prohibition  of  public 
prayer  by  “an  unveiled  woman,”  5  may  have  been 
important  in  ancient  Corinth,  but  are  of  merely 
archaeological  interest  to-day.  Yet  within  this 
environment  of  tradition  and  custom,  there  are 
revealed  in  Paul’s  teaching  certain  principles  of 
conduct  whose  validity  has  no  such  limit  of  time 
or  place;  and  through  his  “interim  ethics”  emerge 
ideals  as  indestructible  as  was  that  visionary 
hope  of  a  reign  of  God  which  inspired  Jesus  him¬ 
self.  What  one  sees  in  Paul’s  letters  is  a  great 

1 II  Thess.  ii.  7.  Phil.  iii.  20. 

2  Matt.  xxii.  30;  Mark  xii.  25;  Luke  xx.  35  f. 

3 1  Cor.  vi.  13,  15. 

4 1  Cor.  xiv.  14. 

5 1  Cor.  xi.  13. 


ETHICS 


235 


man,  wrestling  like  Laocoon  with  the  constricting 
conditions  of  his  own  age,  and  at  last  flinging 
them  to  his  feet,  and  standing  erect  and  free.  It 
was,  in  a  word,  the  same  moral  strength  which 
fortifies  a  Christian  in  any  age.  What,  one  must 
still  ask  himself,  is  to  happen  when  a  life  has 
committed  itself  to  Christ?  What  entanglements, 
either  of  the  world  or  of  the  church,  are  escaped 
when  “the  law  of  the  spirit  brings  the  life  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus”?1  What  are  the  permanent 
principles  of  Christian  ethics?  How  is  a  Christian 
to  meet  the  issues  and  demands  of  his  own  time? 
These  are  the  limited  yet  searching  questions  with 
which  the  modem  world  may  turn  with  undi¬ 
minished  teachableness  to  the  authority  of  the 
Apostle  Paul. 

The  first  answer  which  Paul  makes  to  these 
questions  concerning  Christian  ethics  is  in  his 
reiterated  and  passionately  cherished  ideal  of 
moral  liberty.2  The  first  consequence  of  Christian 
conviction  is  that  one  is  free, — free  from  external 
prescriptions,  such  as  the  Jewish  law  illustrated 
to  Paul;  free  from  all  bondage  of  the  letter,  such 
as  modem  life  with  its  environing  compulsions  so 
painfully  feels;  free,  still  more,  from  the  tyranny 
of  sin  in  one’s  own  heart.  Greek  ethics  gave  little 
place  to  confessions  of  repentance.  Sin  was  a 
blunder,  not  a  blot;  missing  the  mark  rather  than 
missing  the  way.3  Many  a  perplexed  and  incon- 

1  Rom.  viii.  2.  2  Cf.  Morgan,  op.  cit.,  pp.  180  ff. 

3  Cf.  T.  R.  Glover,  “ Jesus  in  the  Experience  of  Men,”  1921, 
p.  82,  citing  Rashdall,  “Conscience  and  Christ,”  p.  129:  “There 


236  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

stant  soul  through  all  the  generations  since  has 
found  its  own  experience  anticipated  in  Paul’s 
sense  of  a  divided  life,  and  has  taken  to  itself 
the  penitent  confession,  “I  want  to  do  what  is 
right,  but  wrong  is  all  I  can  manage;  I  cordially 
agree  with  God’s  law  .  .  .  but  then  I  find  quite 
another  law  in  my  members.”  1  Paul  gave  new 
vitality  to  this  sense  of  culpability  and  this  cry 
for  release.  The  law  of  sin  was  a  law  of  death,2 
from  which  only  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  could 
set  one  free. 

The  sense  of  repentance  and  shame  becomes  so 
poignant  with  Paul  that,  as  so  often  happens  in 
his  thought,  he  expands  his  personal  experience 
into  the  dimensions  of  a  general  law,  interpreting 
all  human  history.  “From  Adam  to  Moses,”  he 
says,  “death  reigned.”  “Adam  prefigured  Him 
who  was  to  come.”  3  It  is  not  surprising  that 
this  sweeping  generalization  has  made  a  profound 
appeal  to  multitudes  of  self-convicted  and  self- 
reproaching  souls,  and  that  even  so  noble  a  nature 
as  that  of  John  Wesley  should  have  found  in  the 
“fall  of  man”  the  very  corner-stone  of  the  Christian 
religion.4  With  Paul,  however,  the  dominant 

is  nothing  about  repentance  in  Aristotle,  not  very  much  in  Plato; 
more  no  doubt  in  the  teaching  of  the  Stoics,  though  the  proud 
self-sufficiency  of  that  school  hardly  favored  a  penitential  attitude 
of  mind.” 

1  Rom.  vii.  21-23. 

2  Rom.  viii.  2. 

3  Rom.  v.  14,  15. 

4  “The  Works  of  John  Wesley,”  Amer.  ed.  1827,  II.  43:  “Let  me 
entreat  every  serious  person  once  more  to  fix  his  attention 


ETHICS 


237 


effect  of  this  conviction  of  sin  was  not  a  sense  of 
helplessness,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  sense  of 
emancipation.  A  great  wave  of  exhilaration  floods 
over  the  apostle’s  mind  as  he  realizes  that  moral 
authority  for  him  comes  no  longer  from  without, 
but  from  within.  “Am  I  not  free?”  he  cries, 
“Am  I  not  an  apostle?”1  “Brothers,  you  were 
called  to  be  free.”  2  “Make  a  firm  stand,  then, 
do  not  slip  into  any  yoke  of  servitude.”  3  It  was  a 
liberty  which  emancipated  one  from  ceremonials, 
rituals,  social  conventions  or  ascetic  rites.  “Why 
should  one’s  own  freedom  be  called  in  question 
by  someone  else’s  conscience?”4  “Who  are  you 
to  criticize  the  servant  of  Another?  It  is  for  his 
Master  to  say  whether  he  stands  or  falls.”  5  “St. 
Paul  is  like  a  burnt  child,  shy  even  of  the  hearth- 
fire  of  his  race,  and  afraid  of  a  return  to  bond¬ 
age.”  6  The  autonomy  of  conscience,  the  right 
to  stand  alone,  the  assurance  that  one  with  God 
is  a  majority, — these  principles  of  moral  authority 
are  to  Paul  the  precious  possessions  of  one  who 

here.  .  .  .  The  fall  of  Adam  produced  the  death  of  Christ.  ...  If 
God  had  prevented  the  fall  of  man, ‘the  Word’  had  never ‘been 
made  flesh.’”  So,  also,  in  the  “Doctrine  of  Original  Sin,”  1757, 
p.  414:  “If  we  were  not  ruined  by  the  first  Adam,  neither  are  we 
recovered  by  the  second.” 

1 1  Cor.  ix.  1. 

2  Gal.  v.  13. 

3  Gal.  v.  1. 

4 1  Cor.  x.  29. 

6  Rom.  xiv.  4. 

6  Cf.  Hutchinson,  “Christian  Freedom,”  1920,  p.  51,  with  a 
careful  note  on  Galatians  v.  1,  p.  83  f. 


238  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

has  committed  himself  to  Christian  loyalty.  “The 
spiritual  man,  again,  can  read  the  meaning  of 
everything,  and  yet  no  one  can  read  what  he  is.”  1 
It  is  a  striking  fact  that,  while  the  word  Conscience 
does  not  occur  in  the  first  three  Gospels,  it  is 
repeatedly  on  the  lips  of  Paul,  and  its  reiterated 
use  has  encouraged  the  impression  that  he  may 
have  had  at  least  a  casual  acquaintance  with  the 
Stoic  philosophers  of  his  time.  “Brothers,”  he 
is  reported  as  saying  to  the  Sanhedrin,  “I  have 
lived  with  a  perfectly  good  conscience  before 
God  down  to  the  present  day.”  2  “My  proud 
boast,”  he  writes,  “is  the  testimony  of  my  con¬ 
science.”  3  The  mens  conscia  recti  becomes  the 
organ  of  his  freedom,  and  the  justification  of  his 
authority.4 

This  supreme  confidence  in  the  voice  of  con¬ 
science  has  through  all  the  Christian  centuries 
commended  Paul  to  those  wTho  were  inclined  to 
the  philosophy  of  ethical  individualism.  They 
have  welcomed  Paul’s  defiant  teaching:  “It  matters 
very  little  to  me  that  you  or  any  human  court 
should  cross-question  me  on  this  point.”  5 6  “Each 

1 1  Cor.  ii.  15. 

2  Acts  xxiii.  1. 

3 II  Cor.  i.  12;  cf.  I  Cor.  viii.  10  ff. 

4C/.  Toy,  “Judaism  and  Christianity,”  1890,  p.  278,  note: 

“Christian  liberty  is  deliverance  from  the  dogma  that  salvation 
is  wrought  out  by  obedience, — that  is,  from  external  ecclesiasti- 
cism,  salvation  is  not  in  the  Church,  but  in  Christ.  The  obligation 
to  keep  the  moral  law  remains;  the  obligation  of  the  ceremonial 
law  falls  away  of  itself.” 

6 1  Cor.  iv.  3. 


ETHICS 


239 


of  us  then  will  have  to  answer  for  himself  to  God.”  1 
Yet  it  is  evident  that  liberty,  thus  unqualifiedly 
claimed,  may  become  license,  and  that  moral 
individualism  may  easily  mean  social  anarch¬ 
ism.  Paul’s  saying,  “Our  thoughts  are  Christ’s 
thoughts,” 2  may  be  perverted  to  mean  that  Christ’s 
thoughts  must  be  tested  by  our  thoughts;  and 
Christian  freedom  may  become  irresponsible, 
arrogant  or  divisive.  One  of  the  finest  evidences, 
therefore,  of  Paul’s  intellectual  sanity  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that,  having  claimed  for  himself 
perfect  liberty,  he  is  yet  able  to  restrain  that 
liberty,  or  even  to  relinquish  it.  “You  were  called 
to  be  free;”  he  writes,  “only,  do  not  make  your 
freedom  an  opening  for  the  flesh,  but  serve  one 
another  in  love.”  3  Still  more  explicitly,  he  pledges 
restraint  for  himself:  “If  food  is  any  hindrance  to 
my  brother’s  welfare,  sooner  than  injure  him  I 
will  never  eat  flesh  as  long  as  I  live,  never!”  4 
To  be  consciously  master  of  one’s  decisions,  “with 
the  freedom  for  which  Christ  set  us  free,”  5  and 
then  to  curb  that  freedom  for  the  sake  of  others, — 
this,  in  any  period  of  history,  is  the  higher  con¬ 
science,  which  justifies  liberty  through  restraint, 
and  makes  considerateness  the  crown  of  consecra¬ 
tion.  It  is  the  principle  announced  in  that  saying 
which  is  perhaps  the  supreme  moral  maxim  re¬ 
ported  of  Jesus  himself:  “For  their  sake  I  conse¬ 
crate  myself.”  6  Consecration  is  not  for  its  own 


1  Rom.  xiv.  12. 

2 1  Cor.  ii.  16. 

3  Gal.  v.  13. 


4 1  Cor.  viii.  13. 
6  Gal.  v.  1. 

6  John  xvii.  19. 


240  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

sake;  it  is  an  instrument  of  service.  Individual¬ 
ism  is  fulfilled  in  altruism.  Service  is  perfect 
freedom.  The  right  to  stand  alone  is  justified 
through  its  surrender.  “Whoever  wants  to  be 
first  among  you  must  be  your  slave/’ 1  said  Jesus; 
and  Paul,  in  perfect  accord  with  his  Master, 
writes,  “Free  as  I  am  from  all,  I  have  made  myself 
the  slave  of  all.”  2 

From  this  primary  principle  of  liberty  there 
follows  the  second  determining  element  of  Chris¬ 
tian  morals.  It  is  the  sense  of  power.  Here,  among 
the  moral  problems  of  any  age,  is  the  test  of  con¬ 
science:  Is  it  a  working  dynamic?  Does  it  act 
as  well  as  discriminate?  Is  it,  as  a  later  Epistle 
says,  a  “good  conscience,”  3 — good,  that  is  to  say, 
for  something;  a  source  of  energy,  an  efficient 
force?  Attention  has  already  been  called  to 
Paul’s  reiterated  use  of  the  word  Power.  It  leaps 
into  his  mind  when  he  seeks  a  word  to  describe 
his  message  or  to  fortify  his  hope.  The  Gospel 
is  “God’s  saving  power;  ”  4  “God’s  Reign  does 
not  show  itself  in  talk  but  in  power;  ”  5  “I  have 
met  you  ...  by  the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus;  ”  6 
“I  am  proud  ...  to  have  the  power  of  Christ 

1  Matt.  xx.  27. 

2 1  Cor.  ix.  19.  Cf.  Hugh  Black,  “ Culture  and  Restraint,”  !j 
1901,  p.  338:  “The  qualifications  for  the  best  usefulness  are 
detachment  and  sympathy;  an  aloofness  of  spirit,  if  not  of  life, 
along  with  sensitiveness  to  the  needs  and  sorrows  and  sins  of  men.” 

3 1  Tim.  i.  5. 

4  Rom.  i.  16. 

5 1  Cor.  iv.  20. 

6 1  Cor.  v.  4. 


ETHICS 


24I 


resting  on  my  life;”  1 — such  is  the  consciousness 
of  capacity,  with  its  endowment  of  courage,  which 
Paul’s  religion  transmits  to  his  moral  life.  Instead 
of  passive  renunciation  of  the  world  there  is  active 
domination  of  the  world.  Instead  of  resignation 
there  is  resolution.  Instead  of  ascetic  restraint 
there  is  athletic  discipline.  Life  in  Christ  means 
mastery.  Surrender  becomes  victory.  “I  am 
strong,”  Paul  says,  “just  when  I  am  weak.”  2 
At  this  point  the  convergence  of  Paul’s  teach¬ 
ing  with  that  of  his  Master  becomes  once  more 
unmistakable.  While,  as  has  already  been  noted, 
Christian  art  and  sentiment  have  for  many  cen¬ 
turies  pictured  the  figure  of  Jesus  as  that  of  a  sub¬ 
missive  sufferer,  an  anaemic  saint,  the  dominating 
impression  actually  made  by  Jesus  on  his  com¬ 
panions  was  evidently  that  of  power.  It  is  true 
that  his  tragic  fate  could  not  but  recall  the  ancient 
prophecy  of  the  Messiah  of  Israel,  as  a  “man  of 
sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief.”  3  Yet  beneath 
the  vicissitudes  of  his  career,  there  was  a  manifest 
control,  both  of  circumstances  and  of  himself, 
which  impressed  all  beholders  with  the  sense 
of  power.  Mastery,  leadership,  authority, — such 
were  the  traits  that  drew  people  to  Jesus  by 
the  attractive  force  of  a  larger  life.  From  this 
source  Paul  derived  the  power  which  marked  his 
own  career.  He  assures  his  friends  that  “It  is  no 
weak  Christ  you  have  to  do  with,  but  a  Christ 
of  power.”  4  Paul’s  life  in  the  spirit  had  made 

1 II  Cor.  xii.  9.  3  Is.  liii.  3. 

2 II  Cor.  xii.  10.  4 II  Cor.  xiii.  3. 


242  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

him  not  only  free  but  strong.  It  was  worth  a 
man’s  having;  it  gave  him  a  right  to  lead.1 

At  this  point  also,  where  Paul’s  character  par¬ 
takes  of  the  power  of  Christ,  it  becomes  peculiarly 
intelligible  and  persuasive  to  the  mind  of  the 
modern  world.  A  resigned  and  submissive  Christ, 
or  a  Paul  who  says,  “I  know  how  to  live  hum¬ 
bly,”  2  “We  are  treated  as  the  scum  of  the 
earth,”  3  may  offer  consolation  to  afflicted  and  dis¬ 
heartened  lives  in  every  age;  but  the  supreme  need 
of  the  present  time  is  for  moral  power,  for  justified 
leadership,  for  the  conquest  of  circumstances  by 
character,  for  the  mastery  of  a  perplexed  and  leader¬ 
less  world;  and  of  this  capacity  to  apply  moral 
freedom  to  efficient  service  the  most  reassuring 
example  is  to  be  found  in  the  untiring  and  master¬ 
ful  energy  of  the  Apostle  Paul. 

To  this  endowment  of  liberty  and  the  resultant 
power,  must  be  added  one  further  factor  in  Paul’s 
moral  life.  It  is  the  consciousness  of  growth.  The 
abrupt  transition  made  by  his  conversion,  and  his 
unhesitating  confidence  in  the  dictates  of  his  new 
faith,  have  encouraged  some  readers  to  conclude 
that  his  teaching  was  in  effect  that  of  moral  per¬ 
fectionism.  “There  is,”  he  says,”  a  new  creation 
whenever  a  man  comes  to  be  in  Christ;  what  is 
old  is  gone,  the  new  has  come;”4  and  again, 

1  Cf.  the  more  detailed  treatment  in  Peabody,  “Jesus  Christ 
and  the  Christian  Character,”  1905,  p.  152. 

2  Phil.  iv.  12. 

3 1  Cor.  iv.  13. 

4 II  Cor.  v.  17. 


ETHICS 


243 


“The  law  of  the  Spirit  .  .  .  has  set  me  free  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death.”  1  So,  again,  he  writes 
to  the  Romans:  “Set  free  from  sin,  you  have 
passed  into  the  service  of  righteousness.”  2  These 
assurances  express  Paul’s  ideal  of  Christian  morals. 
A  life  completely  “hidden  with  Christ  in  God”3 
will  be  safe  from  the  invasion  of  sin.  It  has 
heard  and  obeyed  the  great  command  of  Jesus, 
“You  must  be  perfect  as  your  heavenly  Father 
is  perfect.”  4 

When,  however,  Paul  turns  from  his  moral 
ideal  to  his  moral  experience,  his  habitual  con¬ 
fession  is  far  from  that  of  a  perfectionist.  It 
is,  on  the  contrary,  a  confession  of  struggle,  con¬ 
flict  and  frequent  defeat;  of  retarded,  though 
determined,  growth.  Body  and  soul  contend 
within  him.  “I  serve  the  law  of  God  with  my 
mind,  but  with  my  flesh  I  serve  the  law  of  sin.”  5 
The  Christian  life  is  not  for  him  achieved  or  per¬ 
fected;  it  is  still  involved  in  warfare  against  “the 
spirit  forces  of  evil.”  You  must  “take  God’s 
armour  .  .  .  and  hold  your  ground.” 6  There 
is  a  race  to  run,  with  a  prize  to  win;  there  is  a 
fight  with  one’s  baser  self,  in  which  “I  maul  and 
master  my  body,  in  case,  after  preaching  to  other 
people,  I  am  disqualified  myself.”  7  In  a  most 
striking  phrase,  Paul’s  message  is  described  as 
given  “by  faith  and  for  faith,”  or,  as  the  words 

1  Rom.  viii.  2. 

2  Rom.  vi.  18. 

3  Col.  iii.  3. 

4  Matt.  v.  48. 


5  Rom.  vii.  25. 

6  Eph.  vi.  12  f. 

7 1  Cor.  ix.  24,  27. 


244  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

have  been  interpreted,  “starting  from  a  smaller 
quantity  of  faith  to  produce  a  larger  quantity,  at 
once  intensively  and  extensively,  in  the  individual 
and  in  society.”  1  Faith,  in  other  words,  is  the 
evidence  of  spiritual  growth;  it  is  a  cumulative 
possession,  a  turning  of  the  will  to  the  true  pole. 
Perfection  remains  remote  and  unattained.  Moral 
progress,  even  at  its  best,  is  a  “straining  to  what 
lies  before  me,  to  press  on  to  the  goal  for  the  prize 
of  God’s  high  call  in  Christ  Jesus.”  2  For  Paul 
the  slough  of  despond  lay  beyond  the  wicket-gate 
of  his  conversion,  and  it  was  not  until  he  “came 
up  with  the  cross”  that  his  “burden  loosed  from 
off  his  shoulders,  and  fell  from  his  back,  and  began 
to  tumble,  and  he  saw  it  no  more.” 

Here,  again,  as  one  contrasts  this  strenuous  and 
combative  morality  with  the  prevailing  temper 
of  Paul’s  Master  it  is  like  passing  from  storm  to 
sunshine.  Instead  of  passion,  turbulence  and 
impulsiveness,  there  is  serenity,  self-possession, 
the  “gentleness  and  considerateness”  of  Christ. 
The  once-born  soul  seems  to  reproach  the  vio¬ 
lence  of  the  twice-born.  Yet  in  their  doctrines  of 
moral  growth  the  two  teachings  are  not  so  dis¬ 
similar  as  might  at  first  appear.  With  Paul,  char¬ 
acter  is,  it  is  true,  the  product  of  struggle  and 
victory;  while  with  Jesus  it  grows  as  nature  grows, 
“the  blade  first,  the  ear  of  com  next,  and  then  the 

1  Sanday  and  Headlam,  “Inter.  Crit.  Comm.”  on  Rom.  i.  17. 

2  Phil.  iii.  13-14.  The  teaching  of  Paul  concerning  sin  is  con¬ 
sidered  with  discriminating  detail  by  Stewart  Means,  “Saint 
Paul  and  the  Ante-Nicene  Church,”  1903,  pp.  27  £f. 


ETHICS 


245 


grain  full  in  the  ear.”  Indeed,  the  growth  is,  as 
the  parable  so  finely  says,  often  unobserved  and 
subconscious.  The  sower  “sleeps  at  night  and 
rises  by  day,”  and  the  grain  he  has  planted  “shoots 
up — he  knows  not  how.”  1  Yet  the  winning  of  a 
race  and  the  growth  of  a  seed  have  at  least  this 
in  common,  that  both  demand  patience,  expec¬ 
tancy,  the  persuasion  of  the  unattained.  “Love, 
joy,  and  peace,”  with  Paul  as  with  Jesus  are  not 
outright  endowments  of  perfection,  but  a  final 
“harvest  of  the  Spirit,”  2  for  which  one  must 
wait,  as  one  waits  for  the  ripening  grain.  It  is 
the  impetuous  apostle,  not  the  serene  Master, 
who  teaches  that  we  should  “wait  in  the  Spirit 
for  the  righteousness  we  hope  for.”  3  Even  though 
Paul  has  written  that  “there  is  a  new  creation 
whenever  a  man  comes  to  be  in  Christ,”  4  he  yet, 
within  a  few  lines,  commits  himself  to  the  law  of 
growth, — “I  never  lose  heart;  though  my  out¬ 
ward  man  decays,  my  inner  man  is  renewed  day 
after  day.”  5  The  Christian  life  with  Paul,  as 
with  Jesus,  is  a  moral  evolution;  “the  animate, 
not  the  spiritual,  comes  first,  and  only  then  the 
spiritual.”  6  Liberty  and  power  grow  until  char¬ 
acter  reaps  its  ripened  harvest. 

If,  then,  these  are  the  gifts  which  Christian 
loyalty,  even  by  slow  degrees,  may  hope  to  receive, 
what  are  to  be  their  effects  in  character  and  ser¬ 
vice?  How  shall  a  free,  powerful,  and  growing 
conscience  express  itself  in  the  conduct  of  life? 

1  Mark  iv.  27-28.  3  Gal.  v.  5.  5 II  Cor.  iv.  16. 

2  Gal.  v.  22.  4 II  Cor.  v.  17.  6 1  Cor.  xv.  46. 


246  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

What  are  the  characteristic  virtues  of  a  Christian? 
The  first  impression  made  by  Paul’s  repeated 
enumeration  of  these  “ fruits  of  the  spirit”  is  of 
sheer  diversity,  and  even  of  confusion.  Passive 
and  active  virtues,  self-defensive  and  self-for¬ 
getting  conduct,  conflict  with  the  flesh  and  con¬ 
quest  over  it,  seem  equally  emphasized.  Audacity 
and  humility,  self-control  and  self-sacrifice,  are 
described  as  marks  of  “  God’s  own  chosen.” 1 
“Qualities  so  like  and  unlike  are  hard  to  reconcile; 
perhaps  they  have  never  been  united  in  the  same 
degree  in  any  human  being.”  2 

Yet  these  apparently  heterogeneous  lists  testify 
in  a  most  striking  manner  to  the  many-sidedness 
of  Paul’s  own  character,  and  recall  in  particular  the 
two  strains  of  tradition  which  in  a  unique  degree 
unite  in  him.  On  the  one  hand  is  his  appreciation 
of  the  Greek  virtues,  the  praise  of  manhood,  self- 
mastery,  and  strength.  Of  wisdom,  in  the  Greek 
sense,  he  professes  a  persistent  contempt.  ‘Sage, 
scribe,  critic  of  this  world,  where  are  they  all? 
Has  not  God  stultified  the  wisdom  of  this  world?  ”  3 
Yet  from  within  this  confidence  in  the  guidance 

1  Col.  iii.  12. 

2  Jowett,  op.  cit.,  I.  297.  This  fusion  of  opposing  traits  is  de¬ 
scribed  with  precision  by  G.  F.  Barbour,  “A  Philosophical  Study 
of  Christian  Ethics,”  1911,  pp.  19  £f.,  e.  g.  Earnestness  and 
Equanimity,  Severity  and  Mercy,  Confidence  and  Caution,  with 
note  on  Newman  on  the  Paradox  of  Christian  Character,  p.  394. 
Cf.  also  Watkinson,  “ Moral  Paradoxes  of  St.  Paul,”  1913. 

3  I  Cor.  i.  20.  So,  Alexander,  op.  cit.,  pp.  174  fit  So,  Morgan, 
op.  cit.,  p.  177:  “Paul  values  and  cultivates  gnosis,  but  in  the  last 
resort  his  piety  is  not  gnostic.” 


ETHICS 


247 


of  the  Spirit,  there  emerges  a  new  kind  of  wisdom, 
a  Christian  Gnosis,  an  insight  which  is  not  of  the 
world,  but  which  is  able  to  judge  the  world.  It 
is  the  wisdom  of  spiritual-mindedness,  a  fulfilment 
of  the  promise  made  to  the  pure  in  heart,  that  they 
shall  “see  God”;  the  phenomenon  which  may 
be  observed  in  modern  as  in  ancient  times,  where 
moral  purity,  like  an  unclouded  lens,  permits  a 
clearer  view  of  truth  than  the  sophisticated  reason 
can  attain.  Obscured  as  Paul’s  teaching  is  by 
his  controversy  with  contemporary  philosophy 
and  his  use  of  alien  terms,  wisdom  is  to  him  that 
capacity  to  discern  and  discriminate,  which,  as 
Jesus  said,  is  often  hidden  from  “the  wise  and 
learned,”  and  revealed  to  “the  simple-minded.”  1 

A  similar  adaptation  of  Greek  ideals  is  found  in 
Paul’s  attitude  toward  the  virtue  of  self-control. 
What  with  Plato  was  a  faculty  of  repression  and 
restraint  becomes  with  Paul  a  way  of  discipline 
and  mastery.  What  with  Aristotle  was  a  prudent 
pursuit  of  the  mean  becomes  with  Paul  a  training 
for  efficiency.2  “I  .  .  .  master  my  body,”  he 

1  Matt.  xi.  25=Luke  x.  21. 

2  “Republic,”  tr.  Jowett,  1871,  Book  iv.  430,  443.  “Temper¬ 
ance  is,  as  I  conceive,  a  sort  of  order  and  control  of  certain  pleas¬ 
ures  and  desires;  this  is  implied  in  the  saying  of  a  man  being  his 
own  master.  .  .  .  The  just  man  does  not  permit  the  several  ele¬ 
ments  within  him  to  meddle  with  one  another,  or  any  of  them  to 
do  the  work  of  others,  but  he  sets  in  order  his  own  inner  life,  and  is 
his  own  master,  and  at  peace  with  himself.”  So  Gardner,  “The 
Religious  Experience  of  St.  Paul,”  1911,  p.  140:  “The  life  of 
virtue  is  not  to  him,  as  to  Aristotle,  a  pursuit  of  the  mean  between 
extremes,  but  an  enthusiasm,  a  passion.” 


248  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

says.  “Every  athlete  practices  self-restraint  all 
round.”  1  Passion,  in  other  words,  is  not  to  be 
repressed,  but  to  be  disciplined,  as  a  runner  nerves 
himself  for  a  race.  When  Felix,  the  Roman  Gover¬ 
nor,  heard  his  Jewish  prisoner  speak  of  “self- 
mastery,”  2  he  may  well  have  believed  that  the 
words  were  a  fragment  caught  from  some  Stoic 
philosopher,  and,  with  a  new  respect  for  his  pris¬ 
oner,  he  “grew  uneasy”  while  Paul  spoke. 

Yet  what  seems  an  obvious  affinity  with  the 
Greek  tradition  is  at  once  supplemented  in  Paul 
by  a  wholly  different  quality,  which  stamps  him 
as,  not  a  Greek,  but  a  Hebrew.  It  is  the  sacrificial 
spirit,  the  self-effacing  temper,  the  capacity  to 
dedicate  self-control  to  the  life  of  service.  “To 
live  a  life  worthy  of  your  calling,  with  perfect 
modesty  and  gentleness,”  3  “humbly  considering 
each  other  the  better  man,”  4  is  counsel  which 
must  have  seemed  extravagant  or  misleading  to 
the  Greek  mind,  trained  to  rank  as  the  noblest 
virtues  self-respect  or  high-mindedness.  To  such 
a  hearer,  there  may  have  been  even  a  touch  of 
vulgarity  in  the  saying,  “Free  as  I  am  from  all, 
I  have  made  myself  the  slave  of  all.”  5  The  praise 
of  humility,6  of  forbearance,7  of  forgiveness,8  of 
generosity,9  touches  a  new  moral  chord.  In  such 
exhortations,  Paul  turns  his  back  on  Greek  ideals 
and  commits  himself  to  the  tradition  of  his  own 
people,  and  to  the  teaching  of  his  newly  discovered 

1 1  Cor.  ix.  27,  25.  4  Phil.  ii.  3.  7  Phil.  iv.  5. 

2  Acts  xxiv.  25.  5 1  Cor.  ix.  19.  8 II  Cor.  ii.  10. 

3  Eph.  iv.  1-2.  6  Phil.  ii.  3.  9  Col.  iii.  13. 


ETHICS 


249 


Lord,  as  though  he  were  repeating  the  promise  to 
Israel:  “I  dwell  .  .  .  with  him  also  that  is  of  a 
contrite  and  humble  spirit,”  1  or  the  still  more 
unqualified  saying  of  Jesus,  “  Blessed  are  those 
who  feel  poor  in  spirit!  ”  2 

Not  all  at  once,  or  without  effort,  does  Paul 
overcome  this  spiritual  conflict  between  Greek 
and  Hebrew  morals,  between  self-assertion  and 
self-surrender.  He  proudly  claims  the  right  to 
lead,  and  even  to  dictate:  “I  could  rely  on  out¬ 
ward  privilege,  if  I  chose.  Whoever  thinks  he 
can  rely  on  that,  I  can  outdo  him.”  3  “Let  them 
vaunt  as  they  please,”  he  says  of  his  opponents, 
“I  am  equal  to  them.”  4  “My  proud  boast  is 
the  testimony  of  my  conscience.”  5  Yet  at  another 
moment  the  torturing  memory  of  his  own  blunders 
and  sins  wrings  from  him  a  confession  of  insuffi¬ 
ciency  and  a  cry  for  help:  “It  was  in  weakness 
and  fear  and  with  great  trembling  that  I  visited 
you.”  6  “I  am  the  very  least  of  the  apostles,  unfit 
to  bear  the  name  of  apostle,  since  I  persecuted 
the  church  of  God.”  7  “  ‘Nobody’  as  I  am,  I  am 
not  one  whit  inferior.”  8  “Who  will  rescue  me  from 
this  body  of  death?  ” 9 

How  shall  this  moral  paradox,  as  old  as  philos- 

1  Is.  lvii.  15.  4 II  Cor.  xi.  21.  7 1  Cor.  xv.  9. 

2  Matt.  v.  3.  6 II  Cor.  i.  12.  8 1  Cor.  xii.  n. 

3  Phil.  iii.  4.  6 1  Cor.  ii.  3. 

9  Rom.  vii.  24.  So,  A.  Juncker,  “Die  Ethik  des  Apostels 
Paulus,”  II.  1919,  ss.  36,  37:  “His  letters  abound  in  expressions 
of  strong  self-confidence.  .  .  .  Yet  his  pride  is  always  bounded  by 
the  consciousness  which  a  forgiven  sinner  cannot  escape,  that 
‘by  God’s  grace  I  am  what  I  am.’  (I  Cor.  xv.  10.)  ” 


250  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

ophy,  as  new  as  each  conscience  in  the  modem 
world,  be  solved?  How  may  one  be  at  once  brave 
and  humble,  self-confident  and  self-effacing,  “free 
from  all,  yet  the  slave  of  all”?  The  answer  of 
Paul  to  this  fundamental  problem  of  ethics  is  un¬ 
hesitating  and  undisguised.  It  is  the  enlistment 
in  a  cause  that  demands  much  more  than  one  can 
give  which  at  once  justifies  self-confidence  and 
prescribes  humility.  It  is  the  habit  of  mind  in 
which  a  soldier  is  trained  when  he  enlists  for  a  war. 
He  can  command  because  he  has  learned  to  obey. 
His  subordination  has  prepared  him  for  leader¬ 
ship.  He  tells  one  man  to  go  and  he  goes,  and 
another  to  come  and  he  comes,  because  he  is  him¬ 
self  “a  man  under  authority.”  1  In  short,  one  does 
not  find  himself  until  he  loses  himself,  and  in  loyal 
service  discovers  perfect  freedom.  This  is  what 
Paul,  through  much  struggle  against  his  imperious 
will,  had  found  in  surrender  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 
What  might  have  seemed  submission  was,  in  fact, 
emancipation.  His  was  a  “freedom  for  which 
Christ  set  us  free.”  2  It  was,  as  the  Epistle  of 
James  said,  “the  faultless  law  of  freedom.” 3 
“The  law  of  the  Spirit,”  Paul  confidently  affirms, 
“brings  the  life  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  that 
law  has  set  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death.”  4 

Here,  indeed,  is  the  only  way  of  escape  from  the 
perennial  paradox  of  morality,  and  it  leads  the 
modem  mind,  as  it  did  the  Apostle  Paul,  straight 

1  Matt.  viii.  g.  3  James  i.  25. 

2  Gal.  v.  1.  4  Rom.  viii.  2. 


ETHICS 


251 


back  to  the  most  searching  of  all  the  moral  axioms 
announced  by  Jesus:  “He  who  has  found  his  life 
will  lose  it,  and  he  who  loses  his  life  for  my  sake 
will  find  it.” 1  Self-discovery  through  self-sur¬ 
render,  gain  through  loss,  freedom  through  depend¬ 
ence, — such  is  the  solution  of  the  moral  paradox 
which  all  four  Gospels  offer,  as  though  it  were  very 
near  the  secret  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  Towards 
this  moral  ideal  Greek  and  Hebrew  traditions  con¬ 
verge  until,  as  Paul  said,  “There  is  no  room  for 
Greek  and  Jew.  .  .  .  Christ  is  everything  and 
everywhere.”  2 

And  how  shall  this  ethical  idealism,  in  which 
freedom  and  dependence  meet,  utter  itself  in 
action?  Its  broad  and  open  channel  is  through 
that  self-forgetful  service  which  Paul,  in  unmis¬ 
takable  affinity  with  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  de¬ 
scribes  as  Love.  As  the  Master,  when  asked, 
“What  is  the  greatest  commandment  of  the  law?” 
cites  the  ancient  Scripture  of  love  to  God  and 
man,3  so  Paul,  with  the  same  allusion  to  the  well 
known  Scriptures  of  his  people,  writes:  “The 
entire  Law  is  summed  up  in  one  word,  in,  You 
must  love  your  neighbor  as  yourself;”  4  and  as 
Jesus  in  unadorned  simplicity  says,  “Love  your 
enemies;  ”  5  “Her  sins  .  .  .  are  forgiven,  for 

1  Matt.  x.  39;  xvi.  25;  Mark  viii.  35;  Luke  ix.  24;  xvii.  33; 
John  xii.  25. 

2  Col.  iii.  11. 

3  Matt.  xxii.  37-39;  Deut.  vi.  5;  Lev.  xix.  18. 

4  Gal.  v.  14. 

5  Matt.  v.  44. 


252  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

her  love  is  great;”1  so  Paul,  in  the  exuberance 
of  his  passionate  loyalty,  interrupts  his  technical 
instructions  about  ritual  administration  with  a 
lyric  of  “The  Higher  Path,”  so  perfect  in  form  and 
so  lofty  in  spirit  that  it  must  be  ranked  with  the 
noblest  utterances  of  Jesus  himself.2  The  structure 
of  character  which  Paul  erects  on  the  foundation 
of  love  is  the  most  permanent  monument  of  his 
insight,  discrimination,  and  poise.3  On  this  height 
of  poetic  insight,  dependence  and  freedom,  religion 
and  ethics,  meet.  “We  love,”  as  was  later  written, 
“because  He  loved  us  first.”  4  The  love  that  is 
given  must  be  first  received.  First,  “God’s  love 
floods  our  hearts  through  the  holy  Spirit,”  5  and 
then  love,  joy,  and  peace  become  the  natural  out¬ 
flow  of  that  abundant  flood. 

Finally,  the  character  thus  commended  by  Paul 
becomes  in  him  not  merely  a  tranquillizing  ideal 
but  a  passionate  motive,  a  flame  which  breaks 
out  in  affectionate  solicitude  for  his  fellow- Chris¬ 
tians;  passing,  as  the  author  of  “  Ecce  Homo  ”  said, 
from  a  “passive  morality  to  an  active  morality,” 
and  changing  humanity  “from  a  restraint  to  a 
motive.”  6  This  “enthusiasm  of  humanity”  adds 
a  new  note  to  Paul’s  ethics,  and  transforms  it 

1  Luke  vii.  47. 

2  Morgan  op.  cit.,  p.  197:  “The  ethic  of  Paul  is  in  all  respects 
that  of  Jesus.  .  .  .  The  fact  stares  us  in  the  face.  .  .  .  The 
Apostle  stood  under  the  influence  of  the  Master.” 

3 1  Cor.  xiii. 

4 1  John  iv.  19. 

5  Rom.  v.  5. 

6  “Ecce  Homo,”  Edition  1867,  p.  20T. 


ETHICS 


253 


from  a  moral  guide  into  a  spiritual  summons.  “  My 
heart  is  wide  open  for  you/’  he  writes  to  the  Co¬ 
rinthians;  “Make  a  place  for  me  in  your  hearts”; 
“I  was  specially  delighted  at  the  delight  of 
Titus”;1  and  to  the  Philippians,  “So  then,  my 
brothers,  for  whom  I  cherish  love  and  longing, 
my  joy  and  crown,  this  is  how  you  must  stand  firm 
in  the  Lord,  O  my  beloved”; 2  and  yet  again,  to 
the  Thessalonians,  “Who  is  our  hope,  our  joy, 
our  crowm  of  pride?.  .  .  Why,  you,  you  are  our 
glory  and  joy!”3  In  these  searching  utterances 
affection  assumes  the  tone  of  authority.  Paul 
speaks  not  for  himself  but  for  his  Master.  “So  I 
am  an  envoy  for  Christ,  God  appealing  by  me.”  4 
The  limits  of  an  ethical  system  give  way  before 
this  rush  of  affectionate  desire,  and  moral  admoni¬ 
tions  are  submerged  by  a  wave  of  sympathetic 
emotion. 

“Then  with  a  rush  the  intolerable  craving, 

Shivers  throughout  me  like  a  trumpet-call, — 

Oh  to  save  these !  to  perish  for  their  saving, 

Die  for  their  life,  be  offered  for  them  all.”  6 

At  this  point  the  stream  of  Pauline  ethics  sweeps 
from  the  limited  area  of  personal  integrity  into 
the  broader  field  of  social  service.  It  is  true  that 
here,  as  elsewhere,  the  immediate  intention  of  the 
apostle  does  not  look  beyond  the  Christian  com- 

1II  Cor.  vi.  11 ;  vii.  2;  vii.  13. 

2  Phil.  iv.  1. 

3 1  Thess.  ii.  19,  20. 

4 II  Cor.  v.  20. 

6F.  W.  H.  Myers,  “Poems,”  1870,  p.  5,  “St.  Paul.” 


254  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

munity  itself.  Those  who  have  found  the  life  in 
Christ  are  separated  from  “a  crooked  and  per¬ 
verse  generation,”  and  “  shine  like  stars  in  a  dark 
world.”  1  The  social  ideal  of  Paul  is  less  compre¬ 
hensive  than  that  which  Jesus  announced,  when 
at  the  beginning  of  his  ministry  he  said,  “I  must 
preach  the  glad  news  of  the  Reign  of  God.”  2 
What  Paul  had  in  mind  was  the  Christian  com¬ 
munity,  the  upbuilding  of  a  body  of  Christ,  in 
which  each  member  should  have  its  part  in  the 
Ecclesia  of  God.3 

Yet  here  again,  as  so  often  happens,  Paul’s 
teaching  outruns  his  purpose,  and  he  builds  better 
than  he  knows.  No  truth  has  become  more  con¬ 
genial  or  convincing  to  the  modern  mind  than 
that  of  human  solidarity.  Membership  one  of 
another  has  been  discovered  to  be  the  principle 
of  stability,  alike  in  the  family,  the  community,  the 
nation,  and  the  world.  When  Paul  says,  “If  one 
member  suffers,  all  the  members  share  its  suffer¬ 
ing,”  4  he  is  in  fact  stating  a  law  which  governs, 
not  only  Christian  fellowship,  but  political  and 
economic  welfare.  The  primary  condition  of  a 
reestablished  prosperity  and  peace  among  the 
dissensions  and  distrusts  of  the  world  to-day  is  in 
a  renewed  and  universal  acceptance  of  the  social 


1  Phil.  ii.  15,  citing  Deut.  xxxii.  5. 

2  Luke  iv.  43. 

3 1  Cor.  i.  2;  II  Cor.  i.  1.  Cf.  Dodd,  “The  Meaning  of  Paul  for 
Today,’'  1920,  pp.  138  ff.  “The  Divine  Commonwealth  Dis¬ 
covered.” 

4 1  Cor.  xii.  26. 


ETHICS 


255 


ethics  of  Paul.  There  are  many  members,  but 
one  body.  “The  eye  cannot  say  to  the  hand,  ‘I 
have  no  need  of  you;’  nor  again  the  head  to  the 
feet,  ‘I  have  no  need  of  you’.  .  .  .  The  various 
members  should  have  a  common  concern  for  one 
another.”  1  The  conscious  aim  of  the  apostle  for 
the  body  of  Christ  has  expanded  into  the  hope 
of  international  association.  If,  in  an  individual, 
or  in  the  Church,  or  in  the  nation,  the  new  acces¬ 
sions  of  liberty,  of  power,  and  of  growth  which  are 
gained  through  Christian  loyalty  are  to  be  applied 
as  instruments  of  aggression  and  domination,  then 
not  only  the  Ecclesia  of  God  will  languish  but  the 
world  itself  will  be  dismembered  and  in  ruins.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  isolated  morality  is  seen  to  be 
social  suicide,  if  the  sanity  of  service  shall  succeed 
the  madness  of  distrust,  if  liberty,  power,  and 
growth  become  dedicated  to  social  regeneration, 
then,  in  a  larger  sense  than  the  Apostle  Paul 
himself  could  contemplate,  there  may  be  a  verifi¬ 
cation  of  his  ideal  and  a  fresh  recognition  of  his 
spiritual  genius  and  authority. 


1 1  Cor.  xii.  2i,  25. 


CHAPTER  VII 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 

The  reflections  and  suggestions  thus  far  indicated 
lead  one,  finally,  to  renew  the  question  with 
which  they  began,  concerning  the  relation  of  the 
Apostle  Paul  to  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus.  Are 
the  contrasts  of  character  and  teaching  so  extreme 
that  one  must  choose  between  the  Messenger  and 
the  Master,  and  cannot  accept  both  the  Pauline 
teaching  and  the  Gospel  message;  or  is  there,  be¬ 
neath  the  conspicuous  differences  which  confront 
the  reader,  sufficient  evidence  of  affinity  to  demon¬ 
strate  that  Paul  is  a  lineal  heir  of  the  spiritual 
desire  of  Jesus,  and  through  many  wanderings  of 
mind,  as  of  body,  in  foreign  regions  of  thought 
and  faith,  remains  essentially  a  minister  of  Jesus 
Christ? 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  differences  of  em¬ 
phasis  are  in  their  first  effect  startling.  Seldom 
in  history  have  two  characters  appeared  to  have 
less  in  common  than  those  of  Jesus  and  Paul.  The 
one  is  habitually  serene,  self-possessed,  and  con¬ 
sistent.  Only  when  his  indignation  is  moved  by 
the  desecration  of  sacred  places  is  his  capacity 
for  passion  revealed,  and  it  is  suggestive  to  note 
that  this  uprush  of  righteous  wrath  so  impressed 
its  witnesses  as  to  be  reported  in  detail  by  all  four 

256 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


257 


of  the  Evangelists.1  All  that  can  be  surmised  of 
the  appearance  of  Paul  leaves  a  wholly  different 
impression.  The  portrait  which  Jowett  draws, — 
“a  poor,  decrepit  being,  afflicted,  perhaps,  with 
palsy,  certainly  with  some  bodily  defect, — led 
out  of  prison  between  Roman  soldiers,  probably 
at  times  faltering  in  speech;  the  creature,  as  he 
seemed  to  spectators,  of  nervous  sensibility,”  2 — 
may  exaggerate  Paul’s  physical  maladies;  but  he 
himself  reports  an  opponent  as  saying,  “His 
personality  is  weak  and  his  delivery  is  beneath 
contempt,” 3  and  an  early  tradition  described 
him  as  “small  in  size,  with  meeting  eyebrows,  with 
a  rather  large  nose,  baldheaded,  bowlegged,  strongly 
built,  full  of  grace,  for  at  times  he  looked  like  a 
man,  and  at  times  he  had  the  face  of  an  angel.”  4 
These  reminiscences  suggest  the  variable,  yet 
occasionally  inspired,  personality,  which  Paul’s 
letters  themselves  exhibit;  at  times  a  man  with 
obvious  foibles,  but  at  times  with  the  face  and 
message  of  an  angel.  He  is,  as  he  writes  to  the 


1  Matt.  xxi.  12  f Mark  xi.  15  ff.;  Luke  xix.  45  ff.;  John  ii.  13  ff. 
Cf.  also  Matt,  xxiii. 

2  Op.  cit.,  I.  303. 

3 II  Cor.  x.  10. 

4  “  Acta  Pauli  et  Theklae,”  as  cited  by  W.  M.  Ramsay,  “The 
Church  in  the  Roman  Empire,”  1893,  p.  31  ff.:  “The  general 
opinion  of  recent  scholars  is  that  this  tale  was  composed  about  the 
latter  part  of  the  second  century;  and  in  that  case  it  would  have 
no  historical  value,  except  so  far  as  it  quoted  older  documents.  .  . 
This  plain  and  unflattering  account  of  the  Apostle’s  personal 
appearance  seems  to  embody  a  very  early  tradition.”  The  docu¬ 
ment  is  discussed  by  Ramsay  in  detail,  p.  375  ff. 


258  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Corinthians,  “  humble  enough  to  your  face  when 
he  is  with  you,  but  outspoken  enough  when  he 
gets  away  from  you.”  1  He  can  be  violent,  ironical, 
harsh;  he  consigns  one  offender  “to  Satan;”2 
he  writes  of  others,  “Beware  of  these  dogs;”3 
he  ridicules  those  who  “want  to  make  a  grand 
display  in  the  flesh;”  4  he  is  convicted  by  his  own 
confession  of  a  temper  so  easily  provoked  that  it 
yields  to  language  which  is  violent  and  even  coarse.5 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  no  man  was  ever  more 
lavish  in  affection,  eager  for  friendship,  considerate 
of  weakness,  or  quick  with  comfort  and  relief. 
“Who  is  weak,”  he  says,  “and  I  do  not  feel  his 
weakness?”6  “My  letter  was  written  to  you  .  .  . 
in  order  to  let  you  realize  before  God  how  seriously 
you  do  care  for  me.  That  is  what  comforts  me.”  7 
“If  I  am  comforted,  it  is  in  the  interests  of  your 
comfort,  which  is  effective  as  it  nerves  you  to  endure 
the  same  sufferings  as  I  suffer  myself.”  8  How 
undisguised,  intimate,  human,  such  a  man  must 
have  been!  The  personality  of  Jesus  may  have 
seemed,  even  to  his  companions,  detached,  apart, 
above  them;  the  personality  of  Paul  must  have 
seemed  to  his  correspondents  interpretable,  famil- 

1 II  Cor.  x.  1. 

2 1  Cor.  v.  5. 

3  Phil.  iii.  2. 

4  Gal.  vi.  12. 

5  Gal.  v.  12.  (Note  also  the  report  in  Acts  xxiii.  2.)  Cf.  Weinel, 
op.  tit.,  2te  Aufl.,  ss.  267,  280. 

6 II  Cor.  xi.  29. 

7 II  Cor.  vii.  1 2  f. 

8 II  Cor.  i.  6. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


259 


iar,  like  themselves.  Flashes  of  humor  or  satire 
sparkle  in  his  letters,  and  bring  him  nearer  to  the 
common  level  of  life,  as  a  playful  remark  in  a 
modem  speech  arrests  attention  and  quickens 
sympathy.  “I  am  in  the  role  of  a  ‘fool,’  now,  on 
this  business  of  boasting.  ...  You  put  up  with 
fools  so  readily,  you  who  know  so  much!”  1  “You 
put  up  with  it  all  right,  when  some  interloper 
preaches  a  second  Jesus.”  2  “If  anyone  imagines 
he  is  somebody,  ...  he  is  nobody.”  3  Humor 
there  was  at  times  in  the  talk  of  Jesus,  as  in  his 
parable  of  the  unfaithful  steward; 4  and  satire, 
as  in  his  comparison  of  this  generation  with  chil¬ 
dren  at  their  games  calling  petulantly  to  their 
reluctant  playmates; 5  but  these  moments  which 
seem  to  show  Jesus  with  a  smile  on  his  grave 
countenance  are  like  glints  of  sunshine  lighting  up 
a  sombre  day.  For  the  most  part,  his  mind  moved 
above  the  incidents  of  his  career,  and  the  events 
of  nature  and  life  about  him  were  but  parables 
of  his  own  mission  or  of  his  Father’s  care.  To  pass 
from  such  serene  elevation  of  mind  to  the  char¬ 
acter  of  Paul  is  as  when  the  disciples  came  down 
from  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  where  they 
had  heard  a  voice  saying,  “This  is  my  Son,  the 
Beloved,”  and  found  the  other  disciples  with  “a 

1 II  Cor.  xi.  17,  19. 

2 II  Cor.  xi.  4.  Cf.  Strachan,  “The  Individuality  of  S.  Paul,” 
1916,  p.  288. 

3  Gal.  vi.  3. 

4  Luke  xvi.  1-9.  See  also  the  ingenious  interpretations  of 
G.  W.  Buckley,  “The  Wit  and  Wisdom  of  Jesus,”  1910,  p.  49  ff. 

5  Matt.  xi.  16  ff. 


260  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


large  crowd  round  them,  and  some  scribes  argu¬ 
ing.”  1  Paul  is  no  calm  and  exalted  master,  such 
as  spoke  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  taught  in 
lovely  parables,  but  a  consciously  unstable,  hasty, 
and  ardent  nature,  applying  his  eager  mind  to 
determine  the  place  of  his  new  faith  among  the 
philosophies  and  cosmologies  of  his  time.  The 
much  debated  conclusion  of  Wrede,  “In  com¬ 
parison  with  Jesus  Paul  is  essentially  a  new  phe¬ 
nomenon,”  2  would  seem,  at  least  in  these  external 
contrasts,  amply  justified. 

These  differences  of  type  become  even  more 
conspicuous  when  one  observes  the  contrast,  not 
only  of  characters,  but  of  aims.  The  mission  of 
Jesus  has  a  sublime  simplicity.  Doctrines  con¬ 
cerning  God  and  the  world,  sacraments  and  rituals, 
church  organization  and  government,  a  scheme 
of  redemption  and  a  descending  Saviour,  have  no 
place  in  his  message  of  the  “Realm  of  God.”  In 
none  of  the  synoptic  Gospels  can  more  than  a 
single  verse  be  discovered  which  may  be  definitely 
described  as  theological  in  character,3  and  the 
discordant  note  which  this  verse  strikes  among  the 
consoling  words  “to  the  laboring  and  burdened” 
suggests  some  doubt  of  its  authenticity.4  The 
message  of  Jesus  is  to  the  individual, — a  searching, 


1  Mark,  ix.  7,  14. 

2  W.  Wrede,  “Paul,”  tr.  1907,  p.  165. 

3  Matt.  xi.  27=  Luke  x.  22. 

4  Morgan,  op.  cit.,  p.  263;  “Against  the  genuineness  of  the  one 
distinctively  theological  saying,  that  of  Matthew  xi.  27  ft.,  objec¬ 
tions  can  be  urged  that  to  me  at  least  seem  decisive.” 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


26l 


cleansing,  reassuring  ministry  for  the  single  soul: 
“Come  and  follow  me”;1  “If  anyone  wishes  to 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  take  up  his 
cross  and  so  follow  me”; 2  “The  Son  of  Man  has 
come  to  seek  and  save  the  lost.”  3  Jesus  has  no 
controversy  with  the  Jewish  law.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  he  exalts  it  as  a  way  to  life  eternal.  “A 
right  answer,”  he  says  to  the  lawyer  who  cites 
the  ancient  Scripture,  “Do  that  and  you  will  live.”  4 
“Do  not  imagine  I  have  come  to  destroy  the  Law 
or  the  prophets;  I  have  not  come  to  destroy  but  to 
fulfil.”  5 

Paul’s  agile  mind  seizes  on  this  beautiful  tradi¬ 
tion  and  moulds  it  into  what  seems  to  him  a  more 
durable  form.  The  Galilean  Gospel  is  merged  in 
a  cosmic  scheme.  The  parental  God,  persuading 
his  children  to  obedience,  that  they  may  be  “sons 
of  your  Father  in  heaven,” 6  becomes  an  inter¬ 
vening  God,  adopting  those  who  have  “received 
the  spirit  of  Sonship.”7  Bondage  to  sin,  release 
through  the  spirit,  a  heavenly  Mediator  appearing 
in  human  form  “to  die  upon  the  cross,”  whom 
“God  raised  .  .  .  high  and  conferred  on  him  a 
Name  above  all  names,”8 — all  this  is  in  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  a  world  as  remote  from  that  of  Jesus  as 
imperial  Rome  was  from  provincial  Nazareth. 
One  of  the  most  revered  of  German  theologians, 
estimating  the  meaning  of  Paul  for  the  modern 

1  Mark  x.  21.  6  Matt.  v.  17. 

2  Matt.  xvi.  24;  Mark.  viii.  34;  Luke  ix.  23.  6  Matt.  v.  45. 

3  Luke  xix.  10.  7  Rom.  viii.  15. 

4  Luke  x.  28;  Lev.  xviii.  5.  8  Phil.  ii.  8,  9. 


262  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Christian,  has  summarized,  in  words  posthumously- 
published,  his  conclusion:  “The  entire  outline  of 
his  picture  of  the  world  and  of  his  doctrine  of  re¬ 
demption  appears  to  us  mythological.  .  .  .  Every¬ 
thing  in  his  way  of  thinking  has  become  foreign  to 
us.  ...  We  can  appropriate  the  main  conception 
of  Paul’s  thought  only  by  transforming  it.”  1 
Even  the  acceptance  of  Messiahship  by  Jesus  was, 
it  seems  probable,  an  incident  of  the  last  months 
of  his  life,  “dawning  on  him  gradually  through 
a  process  of  doubt  and  struggle;”  2  and  it  was 
obviously  impossible  for  him  to  initiate  a  cult  of 
which  he  himself  should  be  the  object,  while  at 
the  same  time  saying,  “Why  call  me  ‘good’?  No 
one  is  good,  no  one  but  God.”  3  In  all  this  area 
of  Paul’s  speculative  mysticism,  the  reader  of  the 
Gospels  finds  himself  in  a  foreign  land,  where  a 
new  language  is  heard  and  new  ways  of  thought 
must  be  explored. 

Yet,  beside  this  recognition  of  a  new  religious 
type,  a  still  more  surprising  discovery  awaits  the 
inquirer  as  he  penetrates  beyond  the  margin  of 
the  teaching  of  Paul.  For  it  soon  appears  that 
this  venturesome  spirit,  though  his  explorations 
of  thought,  like  the  journeys  of  his  mission,  carry 
him  into  new  worlds,  is  still  steadied,  as  if  by  a 
sense  of  home,  through  what  he  calls  “a  single 

XJ.  Weiss,  “Die  Bedeutung  des  Paulus  fiir  den  modernen 
Christen”  (in  Zeitschrift  fur  die  neutestamentliche  Wissenschaft, 
1919-20,  ss.  129-131). 

2E.  F.  Scott,  “The  Kingdom  and  the  Messiah,”  1911,  p.  174. 

3  Mark  x.  18;  Luke  xviii.  19;  but  compare  Matt.  xix.  17. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER  263 

devotion  to  Christ,”  1  and  returns  from  his  in¬ 
tellectual  wanderings  with  undiminished  loyalty 
to  the  message  of  Jesus.  Paul  is,  it  is  true,  con¬ 
cerned  for  the  most  part,  not  with  historical  evi¬ 
dence  but  with  spiritual  vitality;  not  with  per¬ 
petuating  a  tradition  but  with  propagating  a 
cause;  not  with  defining  Christology  but  with  ap¬ 
propriating  Christ;  not  with  organizing  a  church 
but  with  upbuilding  a  body  of  Christ;  yet,  in  each 
of  these  reactions  from  externalism,  legalism,  and 
Pharisaism,  the  mind  of  Paul  approaches  the  mind 
of  Jesus.  The  life  of  the  spirit  remains  a  constant 
struggle  against  the  flesh  and  the  daemonic  powers 
of  which  the  tranquil  character  of  Jesus  shows  no 
sign.  Nothing  could  be  more  remote  from  that 
gracious  nature  which  “  increased  in  wisdom  and 
in  stature,  and  in  favour  with  God  and  man,” 2  than 
the  passionate  self-reproach  of  Paul:  “I  serve  the 
law  of  God  with  my  mind,  but  with  my  flesh  I 
serve  the  law  of  sin.”  3  Yet  the  more  divergent 
these  types  of  character  seem,  and  the  farther 
from  each  other  in  intellectual  horizon,  the  more 
one  is  impressed  by  the  reappearance  in  Paul’s 
teaching,  a.nd  in  its  most  fervid  appeals,  of  the 
essential  note  of  the  Gospel  message.  His  letter 
to  the  Romans,  for  example,  sweeps  grandly 
through  its  great  conceptions  of  God’s  plan  for 
man;  but  at  its  close  issues  into  counsels  and  warn¬ 
ing  which  bear  unmistakable  marks  of  the  influence 
of  Jesus.  Who  can  read  the  admonition:  “Bless 
those  who  make  a  practice  of  persecuting  you; 

1 II  Cor.  xi.  3.  2  Luke  ii.  52.  3  Rom.  vii.  25. 


264  the  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

bless  them  instead  of  cursing  them,”  1  without 
recalling  the  earlier  words,  “Love  your  enemies 
and  pray  for  those  who  persecute  you”; 2  or  the 
saying,  “Never  pay  back  evil  for  evil,”  3  without 
remembering  the  command  of  Jesus,  “I  tell 
you,  you  are  not  to  resist  an  injury”?  4  What  is 
Paul’s  warning,  “Magistrates  are  God’s  officers. 
.  .  .  Pay  them  all  their  respective  dues,  tribute  to 
one,  taxes  to  another,  respect  to  this  man,  honour 
to  that,” 5  but  a  restatement  of  the  principle 
which  Jesus  announced  when  the  Pharisees  “plot¬ 
ted  to  trap  him  in  his  talk,” — “Give  Caesar  what 
belongs  to  Caesar,  give  God  what  belongs  to 
God  ”  ? 6  If  the  first  chapters  of  the  letter  to  the 
Romans  carry  the  reader  far  from  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  the  last  chapters  bring  him  back  again. 
The  perplexing  arguments  and  speculations  which 
have  fascinated  the  learned  and  bewildered  the 
simple  fall  away,  to  use  Paul’s  image,  like  the 
veil  which  Moses  hung  over  his  face,7  when  the 
apostle  proceeds  from  his  discussion  of  the  “in¬ 
scrutable  judgments”  of  God,8  and  abruptly 
writes,  “My  brothers,  I  appeal  to  you  by  all  the 
mercy  of  God  to  dedicate  your  bodies  as  a  living 
sacrifice,  consecrated  and  acceptable  to  God.”  9 

The  impression  thus  made  by  the  letter  to  the 
Romans  is  felt  again  as  one  reviews  the  first  letter 

1  Rom.  xii.  14.  6  Matt.  xxii.  15,  21;  Mark  xii.  17;  Luke  xx.  25. 

2  Matt.  v.  44.  7 II  Cor.  iii.  13. 

3  Rom.  xii.  17.  8  Rom.  xi.  33. 

4  Matt.  v.  39.  9  Rom.  xii.  1. 

5  Rom.  xiii.  6,  7. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


265 


to  the  Corinthians,  where  Paul  passes  from  varied 
instructions  and  admonitions  and  suddenly  changes 
the  whole  key  of  teaching  as  he  strikes  a  lyric 
chord.  He  has  begun  by  asking,  “Has  Christ 
been  parcelled  out?”  1  and  proceeds  with  such 
exhortations  as  “I  did  the  planting,  Apollos  did 
the  watering,  but  it  was  God  who  made  the  seed 
grow;”  2  and  “‘all  things  are  lawful’?  Yes,  but 
not  all  are  good  for  us;”  3  and  even  with  such 
incidental  questions  as  whether  a  woman  should 
pray  to  God  while  unveiled.4  In  these  affirmations 
and  expostulations  there  is  no  suggestion  of  the 
note  of  the  Gospels.  Then,  as  though  Paul  had 
fought  his  way  through  these  entangling  maxims 
and  problems  and  found  himself  at  last  on  an  open 
road,  he  calls  as  it  were,  to  his  comrades:  “I  will 
go  on  to  show  you  a  still  higher  path,”  and  forth¬ 
with  breaks  into  song.  It  is  not  so  much  a  re¬ 
semblance  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  which  meets 
one  here  as  a  reiteration  of  it.  The  Master  had 
said,  “Many  will  say  to  me  at  that  Day,  ‘Lord, 
Lord,  did  we  not  prophesy  in  your  name?’  .  .  . 
Then  I  will  declare  to  them,  ‘ I  never  knew  you ”  5 
and  Paul  repeats  after  him,  “I  may  prophesy, 
fathom  all  mysteries  and  secret  lore  .  .  .  but 
if  I  have  no  love,  I  count  for  nothing.”  6  Jesus 
says,  “If  you  had  faith  the  size  of  a  grain  of  mus¬ 
tard-seed,  you  could  say  to  this  hill,  ‘Move  from 
here  to  there,’  and  remove  it  would;”7  and  Paul 

1 1  Cor.  i.  13.  4 1  Cor.  xi.  13.  6 1  Cor.  xiii.  2. 

2 1  Cor.  iii.  6.  5  Matt.  vii.  22,  23.  7  Matt.  xvii.  20. 

3 1  Cor.  x.  23. 


266  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

adds  the  complemental  truth,  “I  may  have  such 
absolute  faith  that  I  can  move  hills  from  their 
place,  but  if  I  have  no  love,  I  count  for  nothing.”  1 
Jesus  teaches,  ‘‘When  you  give  alms,  do  not  let 
your  left  hand  know  what  your  right  hand  is 
doing,”  2  and  Paul  renews  this  warning  against 
self-interested  duty-doing,  “I  may  distribute  all 
I  possess  in  charity,  .  .  .  but  if  I  have  no  love,  I 
make  nothing  of  it.”  3 

Thus  the  teachings  of  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles, 
divergent  as  they  are  in  many  details,  contain  a 
whole  series  of  parallelisms  in  intention  and  ideal; 
and,  finally,  as  the  “Higher  Path”  is  followed  to 
its  end,  the  two  ways  converge  toward  a  single 
point.  The  supreme  principle  of  life  to  Jesus  was 
the  law  of  love.  The  greatest  commands  in  the 
Law,  he  says,  are,  “You  must  love  the  Lord  your 
God,”  and  “You  must  love  your  neighbour  as 
yourself;”  4  and  the  final  reminiscence  of  Jesus  in 
the  Fourth  Gospel  strikes  the  same  key  with  a 
richer  harmony:  “By  this  everyone  will  recognize 
that  you  are  my  disciples,  if  you  have  love  one  for 
another.”  5  The  teaching  of  Paul  rises  to  the 
same  climax,  though  it  gives  to  love  a  new  place  in 
the  hierarchy  of  virtues.  With  Jesus,  love  is  the 
initial  step  in  the  life  of  faith.  “Love  your  ene¬ 
mies  .  .  .  that  you  may  be  sons  of  your  Father  in 
heaven.”  6  With  Paul,  on  the  other  hand,  love  is 
the  end  and  summary  of  the  Christian  life.  Its 


1 1  Cor.  xiii.  2. 

2  Matt.  vi.  3. 

3 1  Cor.  xiii.  3. 


4  Matt.  xxii.  37,  39. 

5  John  xvi.  35. 

6  Matt.  v.  44,  45. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


267 


crowning  quality  is  its  permanence.  Love,  like 
faith  and  hope,  “ lasts  on.”  Evanescent  and  in¬ 
tangible  as  its  manifestations  seem  to  be,  they  have, 
Paul  teaches,  a  durability  and  continuity  which 
neither  prophecy  nor  tongues,  neither  preaching 
nor  praying,  can  achieve.  ‘'The  seen  is  transient, 
the  unseen  eternal.”  1  Neither  organization  nor 
ritual,  neither  healing  nor  miracles,  have  in  them 
the  permanence  promised  to  the  grace  of  self- 
forgetting  love.  The  most  secure  investment  one 
can  make  is  in  friendship.  The  strength  of  the 
Church  is  in  its  self-forgetting  service.  Its  apos¬ 
tolic  succession  is  in  apostolic  beneficence.  Ortho¬ 
doxy,  as  the  word  implies,  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
straight  road;  and  that  highroad  is  the  way  of 
love.  “You  must  be  perfect,”  says  Jesus,  “as 
your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect;”  2  and  this 
ideal,  which  has  so  often  seemed  to  consciously 
imperfect  lives  remote  and  unattainable,  is  brought 
near  to  practicability  in  Paul’s  rule  of  conduct: 
“You  must  be  loving,  for  love  is  the  link  of  the 
perfect  life.”  3 

1 II  Cor.  iv.  18. 

2  Matt.  v.  48. 

3  Col.  iii.  14.  The  parallels  and  likenesses  between  the  writings 
of  Paul  and  the  sayings  reported  of  Jesus  have  been  elaborately 
examined;  sometimes,  it  would  appear,  with  exaggerated  in¬ 
genuity.  ( E .  g.,  Resch,  in  “Texte  und  Untersuchungen,”  V. 
1889.)  It  would  seem  probable  that  the  conclusion  of  Titius 
(“N.  T.  Lehre  von  der  Seligkeit,”  1900,  II.  12)  is  justified:  “Al¬ 
though  an  unqualified  reference  to  the  Lord’s  words  rarely  occurs, 
allusions  to  them  are,  on  the  contrary,  not  infrequent.”  Little, 
perhaps,  can  be  inferred  from  the  use  of  single  words  or  phrases, 


268  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 


If  these  impressions  of  Paul’s  teaching  are  in 
any  degree  justified,  it  remains  to  consider  whether 
their  fragmentary  conclusions  can  be  gathered 
up  into  an  outline  of  the  personality  of  the  apostle, 
as  he  went  his  way  through  the  dramatic  events 
of  his  career.  What  was,  on  the  whole,  the  im¬ 
pression  made  on  his  contemporaries  by  this 
extraordinary  man  and  what  part  can  be  legiti¬ 
mately  claimed  for  him  among  the  unpredecented 

such  as  “steward”  (I  Cor.  iv.  i,  2;  Luke  xii.  42),  “husbandry” 
(I  Cor.  iii.  9  A.  V.;  Matt.  xxi.  33  A.  V.),  “exalt”  and  “humble” 
(II  Cor.  xi.  7  A.  V.;  Matt,  xxiii.  12  A.  V.);  for  such  reiteration 
may  represent  nothing  more  than  familiar  metaphors  or  proverbs. 
On  the  other  hand  are  the  passages  in  which  Paul  definitely  claims 
to  quote  “the  Lord.”  E.  g.,  I  Cor.  xi.  23  ff.,  the  Last  Supper; 
I  Cor.  vii.  10:  “These  are  my  instructions  (and  they  are  the 
Lord’s,  not  mine);”  I  Cor.  ix.  14:  “The  Lord’s  instructions  were 
that  those  who  proclaim  the  gospel  are  to  get  their  living  by  the 
gospel;”  I  Thess.  iv.  15:  “For  we  tell  you,  as  the  Lord  has  told 
us.” 

To  these  may  be  added  the  passages  in  Paul  which  are  so 
reminiscent  of  the  Gospel  that  they  may  be  reasonably  regarded 
as  echoes  either  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  or  of  his  earlier  disciples. 
Thus  J.  Weiss  concludes  (“Urchristentum,”  1917,  s.  431):  “The 
unmistakable  echoes  of  the  Lord’s  words  are  evidence  of  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  Gospel  tradition,  but  still  more  of  an  inner  accept¬ 
ance  of  its  thought  and  of  legal  recognition  of  its  commands.”  Of 
the  instances  collected  by  Titius,  Weiss  regards  as  the  most  con¬ 
vincing: 

Romans  xii.  14,  17. 

I  Cor.  iv.  12;  vi.  7  =  Luke  vi.  27  f. 

I  Cor.  ix.  19  =  Mark  x.  44  f. 

II  Cor.  xi.  7  =  Matt,  xxiii.  n  f. 

Rom.  ii.  1;  xiv.  13  =  Matt.  vii.  1,  2. 

Rom.  xvi.  19  [  =  Matt.  x.  16. 

Phil.  iv.  6]  =  Matt.  vi.  25. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


269 


conditions  of  the  modern  world?  As  one  tries, 
once  more,  to  visualize  the  real  Paul,  one  is  at  first 
bewildered,  as  his  contemporaries  undoubtedly 
were,  by  the  extraordinary  fusion  of  conflicting 
elements  which  he  exhibits.  Hardly  has  one  con¬ 
clusion  been  reached  concerning  him  than  the 
opposite  trait  becomes  conspicuous.  He  was,  it 
is  true,  physically  slight  and  enfeebled,  yet  when 
at  Lystra  “the  crowds  saw  what  Paul  had  done, 
they  shouted,  ‘The  gods  have  come  down  to  us/” 
and  called  Paul  Hermes,  “since  he  was  the  chief 
spokesman.”  1  He  was  not,  in  the  strict  sense,  a 
scholar,  and,  instead  of  impressing  the  philosophers 
at  Athens  by  his  arguments,  he  provoked  them  to 
say,  “Whatever  does  the  fellow  mean  with  his 
scraps  of  learning?”  2  Even  his  citation  from 
“some  of  your  own  poets”  did  not  carry  him  be¬ 
yond  the  region  of  familiar  quotations;  and  the 
estimate  of  him  by  his  hearers  is  expressed  in 
terms  of  sarcasm,  if  not  of  slang.3 

1Acts  xiv.  11,  1 2.  Renan’s  portraiture  would  seem  to  be  ex¬ 
cessively  disparaging:  “The  countenance  of  Paul  was  unattrac¬ 
tive  ( chelive )  and  did  not,  it  would  seem,  reflect  the  greatness  of 
his  soul.  He  was  plain,  short,  thick-set,  and  bent.  His  strong 
shoulders  carried  grotesquely  a  small  bald  head.  His  pale  face 
was  covered  with  a  thick  beard;  his  nose  was  aquiline;  his  eyes 
piercing,  and  his  eyebrows  met  on  his  forehead.”  “Les  Apdtres,” 
1866,  p.  170. 

2  Acts  xvii.  18. 

3  W.  M.  Ramsay,  “St.  Paul  the  Traveller,”  1890,  p.  242  ff.: 
“The  different  opinions  of  the  philosophers  in  v.  18  are  purposely 
placed  side  by  side  with  a  touch  of  gentle  sarcasm.  .  .  .  The  first 
opinion  is  the  most  interesting;  it  contains  a  word  of  character¬ 
istically  Athenian  slang,  Spermologos.  .  .  Probably  the  nearest 


2  JO  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

Yet,  if  not  an  erudite  scholar,  Paul’s  mind  had  a 
versatility,  alertness,  and  audacity  which  made  each 
phase  of  thought  about  him  yield  its  secret,  and  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  enrichment  of  his  teaching.  Insight 
into  unfamiliar  ideas,  keenness  to  appreciate  and 
transform,  reasoning  colored  by  feeling,  indifference 
to  consistency  and  eagerness  for  new  light, — these 
endowments,  which  give  vivacity  and  momentum 
to  thought,  appear  in  an  almost  unique  degree 
throughout  the  experience  of  Paul.  His  mind  was 
that  of  an  advocate,  a  messenger,  a  missionary. 
Lack  of  flexibility,  incapacity  to  adapt  one’s  self 
to  environing  and  alien  ideas,  fixity  of  mind  and 
condescension  of  manner,- — these  have  been 
throughout  all  Christian  history  the  intellectual 
obstacles  to  missionary  success.  To  interpret 
foreign  and  even  repellent  conceptions  as  an¬ 
ticipations  and  foreshadowings  of  Christian  truth; 
to  regard  the  Law  as  holding  “us  as  wards  in 
discipline,  till  such  time  as  Christ  came;”  1  to 
“naturalize”  Christianity,  as  has  been  wisely 


and  most  instructive  parallel  in  modern  English  life  to  Spermo- 
logos  is  ‘Bounder’.  .  .  Dean  Farrar’s  reading,  ‘Picker-up  of 
learning’s  crumbs,’  is  happy,  but  loses  the  touch  of  slang.”  The 
reference  is  to  F.  W.  Farrar,  “The  Life  and  Work  of  St.  Paul,” 
1879, 1.  538:  “To  some  he  was  ‘apparently  a  proclaimer  of  strange 
deities;’  to  others  he  was  a  mere  ‘sparrow,’  a  mere  ‘seed-pecker’; 
(spermologos,  a  seed-pecking  bird,  applied  as  a  contemptuous 
nickname  to  Athenian  shoplifters  and  area  sneaks) — ‘a  picker-up 
of  learning’s  crumbs’.”  (The  allusion  is  to  Browning’s  “Epistle 
of  an  Arab  Physician,”  in  “Men  and  Women”:  “Karshish,  the 
picker-up  of  learning’s  crumbs,”) 

1  Gal.  iii.  24. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


271 


said  of  the  modern  problem  of  foreign  missions,1 
translating  the  Gospel  not  merely  into  the  words 
but  into  the  traditions  of  the  antipodes,  to  be¬ 
come,  as  Paul  again  says,  “to  all  men  ...  all 
things,  to  save  some  by  all  and  every  means,”  2 — 
these  qualities  are  as  essential  for  a  missionary 
in  the  modern  as  in  the  ancient  world,  and  equip 
him  for  effective  service  among  Mohammedans 
or  Buddhists  or  barbaric  tribes,  as  Paul  once 
commended  the  Christian  Gospel  to  the  mystics 
of  the  East  and  the  sceptics  of  the  West. 

This  intellectual  susceptibility,  which  might 
easily  lead  to  sophistry  or  swerve  into  hypocrisy, 
was,  however,  safeguarded  in  Paul  by  a  further 
trait  which  is  partly  intellectual  and  partly  moral. 
It  was  the  unstudied  refinement  which  is  the  mark 
of  what  the  modern  world  calls  a  gentleman.3 
Passion,  indignation  and  controversy  are  not 

1  E.  C.  Moore,  “West  and  East,”  1920,  p.  128:  “On  the  basis 
of  that  inner  experience  the  naturalization  of  Christianity  .  .  . 
may  proceed.  It  is  not  an  accommodation.  It  is  not  a  com¬ 
promise.  It  is  not  an  overlaying  of  ancient  elements,  unchanged, 
by  new  ones  which  have  no  relation  to  them.  It  is  not  an  admix¬ 
ture  produced  by  heat  and  pressure.  It  is  not  the  result  of  a 
theory.  It  is  the  product  of  a  life.  It  is  a  true  process  of  assimila¬ 
tion.  Christianity  is  grafted  upon  the  ancient  national  and  racial 
life.  The  national  life  is  grafted  into  the  ancient  trunk  of  Chris¬ 
tianity,  which  then  brings  forth  fruit  after  its  kind.” 

2 1  Cor.  ix.  22. 

3  Cf.  Phillips  Brooks  on  the  “Teaching  of  Religion,”  1878,  cited 
in  “Life  and  Letters,”  1900,  II.  200:  “What  impresses  us  most  in 
the  best,  the  most  Godlike  men  we  ever  see  is,  I  think,  the  in¬ 
ability  to  tell  in  them  what  of  their  power  is  intellectual  and  what 
is  moral.” 


272  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

denied  to  a  gentleman;  he  may  be  a  good  hater  as 
well  as  a  firm  friend;  but  there  is  in  him  an  in¬ 
tellectual  generosity  which  precludes  injustice  and 
tempers  rebukes  with  considerateness.  No  quality 
is  more  conspicuous  in  the  Apostle  Paul  than  this 
appreciation  of  other  minds,  which  bears  the 
inadequate  name  of  tact.  He  may  be  apparently 
preoccupied,  for  example,  with  elaborate  dis¬ 
cussions  of  Abraham’s  promise  and  Israel’s  sal¬ 
vation,  but  he  cannot  close  his  letter  in  these 
terms  of  criticism  or  censure,  and  adds  a  long 
supplementary  list  of  affectionate  greetings  to 
“ fellow- workers  ”  and  “ beloved,”  and  the  “ mem¬ 
bers  of  their  household,”  and  “the  brothers  of 
their  company,”  and  the  “church  that  meets  in 
their  house.”  “Salute  Mary,  who  has  worked 
hard  for  you.”  “Salute  that  choice  Christian, 
Rufus.”  “Everyone  has  heard  of  your  loyalty 
to  the  Gospel;  it  makes  me  rejoice  over  you.”  1 
Or  again,  he  throws  himself  without  reserve  into 
the  personal  problems  of  his  friends;  “  I  know  that 
as  you  share  the  sufferings  you  share  the  comfort 
also.”  2  Or  yet  again,  his  sympathy  is  enriched  by 
appreciation:  “You  are  pained  as  God  meant  you 
to  be  pained,  and  so  you  got  no  harm.”  3  How 
unconstrained  in  Paul  is  the  trait  which  is  often 
lacking  in  worthy  people, — the  grace  of  receiving! 
A  substantial  offering  has  been  sent  to  him  by 
the  Philippians,  and  he  writes,  “It  was  a  great 
joy  to  me  in  the  Lord  that  your  care  for  me  could 

1  Rom.  xvi.  3  ff.  3 II  Cor.  vii.  9. 

2  II  Cor.  i.  7. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER  273 

revive  again;  for  what  you  lacked  was  never  the 
care  but  the  chance  of  showing  it.”  1 
Perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  instance  in  history 
of  this  disarming  courtesy,  this  appreciation  which 
may  be  at  the  same  time  a  refutation,  is  when  Paul, 
as  reported  in  the  Book  of  Acts,  wins  a  hearing  from 
the  “men  of  Athens,”  not  by  rebuking  them  for 
the  toleration  of  all  manner  of  heathen  cults,  but 
by  beginning  his  address  with  the  famous  words, 
“I  observe  at  every  turn  that  you  are  a  most 
religious  people.  Why,”  he  continues,  “as  I 
passed  along  and  scanned  your  objects  of  wor¬ 
ship,  I  actually  came  upon  an  altar  with  the  in¬ 
scription,  To  an  Unknown  God.  Well,  I  proclaim 
to  you  what  you  worship  in  your  ignorance.”  2 
The  Stoics  and  Epicureans  who  “came  across 
him”  and  who  “occupied  themselves  with  nothing 
else  than  repeating  or  listening  to  the  latest  nov¬ 
elty,”  3  may  well  have  “sneered,”  as  the  record 
says  they  did,  at  the  orator’s  appeal;  but  some  of 
his  audience  could  not  altogether  resist  the  tact 
and  refinement  of  his  diplomatic  appeal,  and  said, 
“We  will  hear  you  again  on  that  subject,”  and 
some  “did  join  him  and  believe.”  4  It  was  the 
type  of  missionary  preaching  which  no  change  of 
time  or  scene  can  make  inapplicable  or  obsolete. 
A  modern  missionary,  addressing  the  cultivated 
classes  of  China  or  Japan,  has  before  him  “a  most 
religious  people,”  and  is  called  to  exercise  the 
same  appreciative  refinement  which  “Dionysius 

1  Phil.  iv.  io.  3  Acts  xvii.  21. 

2  Acts  xvii.  22-24.  4  Acts  xvii.  32,  34. 


274  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

the  Areopagite,  a  woman  called  Damaris,  and 
some  others/’  recognized  as  they  listened  to  Paul. 
Frontal  attack  on  racial  prejudices,  uninformed 
contempt  for  alien  traditions,  an  attitude  of 
Western  superiority  among  rites  and  creeds  so 
ancient  as  to  make  Christianity  a  religious  up¬ 
start, — these  have  irritated  or  repelled  many  an 
Oriental  mind,  bred  in  habits  of  courtesy,  tolera¬ 
tion  and  restraint;  and  no  preliminary  study  is 
more  fundamental  in  the  training  of  a  Christian 
missionary  than  an  examination  and  assimilation 
of  the  intelligent  sympathy  and  gracious  con¬ 
siderateness  which  stamp  each  appeal  of  Paul  with 
the  mark  of  a  Christian  gentleman. 

Such  are  some  of  the  traits  which  bring  the 
Apostle  Paul  very  near  to  the  mind  of  the  modem 
world.  Is  not  this  type  of  teacher, — approach¬ 
able,  intimate,  authoritative,  chastened  by  re¬ 
grets,  dedicated  to  service,  with  a  passionate 
nature  held  in  check  and  converting  emotion  into 
power — precisely  the  type  which  the  modem 
world  demands  in  its  leaders,  and  to  which  it  is 
ready  to  pledge  its  loyalty?  May  it  not  even  be 
said  that  Western  civilization  is  waiting  for  this 
kind  of  man  to  appear,  as  the  whole  creation  waited 
in  Paul’s  time  “with  eager  longing  for  the  sons 
of  God  to  be  revealed”?1  Courage,  both  moral 
and  physical,  intellectual  capacity  to  mould  the 
diverse  interests  of  nations  and  classes  into  a 
single  and  stable  order,  sympathy  with  the  weak, 
self-effacing  service, — such  are  the  marks  of  a 

1  Rom.  viii.  19. 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


275 


great  man  in  the  twentieth  century  as  they  were 
in  the  first;  and  of  this  fitness  for  leadership  the 
most  reassuring  example  in  history  is  the  Apostle 
Paul.  Many  a  modem  missionary  has  been  cheered 
and  fortified  among  alien  faiths  and  unresponsive 
hearers  by  the  sense  of  companionship  with  such 
a  guide,  and  has  recalled  the  confession  of  the 
lonely  Newman,  when  in  the  course  of  his  spiritual 
wanderings  he  found  this  trusted  friend  walking 
by  his  side: — 

“I  dream’d  that,  with  a  passionate  complaint, 

I  wished  me  born  amid  God’s  deeds  of  might; 

And  envied  those  who  had  the  presence  bright 
Of  gifted  Prophet  and  strong-hearted  Saint, 

Whom  my  heart  loves,  and  Fancy  strives  to  paint. 

I  turn’d,  when  straight  a  stranger  met  my  sight, 

Came  as  my  guest,  and  did  awhile  unite 
His  lot  with  mine  and  lived  without  restraint. 

Courteous  he  was  and  grave, — so  meek  in  mien, 

It  seem’d  untrue,  or  told  a  purpose  weak; 

Yet,  in  the  mood,  he  would  with  aptness  speak, 

Or  with  stern  force,  or  show  of  feelings  keen, 

Marking  deep  craft,  methought,  or  hidden  pride: — 

Then  came  a  voice, — ‘St.  Paul  is  at  thy  side’.”  1 

If,  then,  the  characteristics  thus  enumerated 
represent  in  any  degree  the  impression  made  on 
Paul’s  contemporaries  as  he  journeyed  through 
the  cities  of  the  Near  East;  if,  while  his  hearers 
might  question  his  scholarship,  they  could  not 
but  be  moved  by  the  acuteness  and  subtlety  of 

1 J.  H.  Newman,  “The  Dream  of  Gerontius  and  other  Poems,” 
1914,  p.  147,  “St.  Paul.” 


276  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

his  thought;  if,  while  they  might  remember  his 
flashes  of  hate,  they  recalled  more  vividly  the 
charm  of  his  friendship;  if  throughout  the  stormy 
controversies  of  his  career  he  maintained  the  poise 
and  restraint  of  a  gentleman, — what  must  have 
been  the  dominating  effect  made  by  his  message? 
What  was  his  permanent  contribution  to  Christian 
thought?  What, —to  renew  the  question  with 
which  this  study  began, — was  the  essential  rela¬ 
tionship  of  the  apostle  to  his  Lord,  of  the  mes¬ 
senger  to  the  Master? 

Here,  once  more,  it  is  the  sense  of  difference 
which  at  first  forces  itself  into  notice.  The  Christ 
of  Paul  was  a  celestial  Being,  not  a  human  Jesus; 
the  salvation  by  faith  which  Paul  announced  was 
a  far  more  complicated  interpretation  of  religious 
experience  than  the  simple  loyalty  which  Jesus 
claimed.  May  not  these  differences,  however, 
impressive  and  arresting  as  they  are,  be  regarded 
as  differences  in  the  level  of  the  teaching  rather 
than  in  its  intention?  Paul  is,  as  it  were,  bringing 
down  the  ideals  of  the  Gospel  to  the  level  of  dis¬ 
cussion,  and  proving  or  testing  them  by  pre¬ 
vailing  rules  of  theology  or  ethics.  He  seems  to 
ask  himself  repeatedly  how  the  high  experience  of 
conversion  and  confession  may  be  reduced  to  a 
scheme  of  justification  and  redemption.  Jesus, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  content  to  leave  religious 
experience  where  he  has  found  it,  on  the  high 
places  of  aspiration  and  desire;  to  teach  not  from 
the  plain  but  from  the  Mount;  to  go  with  the 
chosen  few  “up  a  high  hill  by  themselves”  and 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


277 


be  “in  their  presence  .  .  .  transfigured.”  1  This 
habitual  elevation  of  spirit  is  far  above  the  thought 
of  Paul,  as  he  walks  his  arduous  way  along  the 
dusty  road  of  debate  and  duty.  But  here  and 
there,  as  Paul  proceeds,  he  ascends  to  the  higher 
point  of  view;  and  as  he  thus  approaches  the 
summit  of  his  own  thought  it  is  as  if  he  found  that 
some  one  had  been  there  before,  and  his  thought 
and  language  climb  to  the  height  where  Jesus  is 
most  at  home.  What  is  best  in  Paul  brings  him 
nearest  to  Jesus.  The  more  he  escapes  from  the 
controversies  which  beset  him  and  rises  into 
freedom  and  power,  the  more  his  words  become 
an  echo  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus,  as  though  the 
Messenger  had  met  the  Master. 

In  his  judicious  and  convincing  study  of  the 
religious  experience  of  Paul,  Professor  Percy 
Gardner  suggests  an  interesting  analogy  between 
the  composition  of  the  physical  atmosphere  and 
that  of  the  spiritual  atmosphere  which  environs 
life.2  Two  elements,  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  are  the 
main  constituents  of  the  air  one  breathes;  the 
first  “the  furtherer  of  life  and  action;”  the  second, 
“which  tempers  the  oxygen  and  fits  it  for  the  use 
of  living  creatures.”  “If  a  human  being  tried  to 
breathe  nitrogen,  he  would  die;  if  he  tried  to 
breathe  pure  oxygen,  the  intensity  of  his  life  would 
destroy  the  life  itself,  and  he  would  perish.”  “The 
inspiration  of  Jesus,”  the  analogy  proceeds,  “is 

1  Matt.  xvii.  1,  2. 

2  Percy  Gardner,  “The  Religious  Experience  of  St.  Paul,”  1911, 
pp.  238  ff. 


278  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

pure  oxygen,  spiritual  life  full  of  the  divine  ideas. 
Yet  the  code  set  forth  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
is  not  merely  unadapted  for  practice  by  any  state 
or  nation,  but  it  would,  if  adopted,  speedily  pro¬ 
duce  euthanasia  of  that  state  or  nation. ”  The 
teaching  of  Paul  “  dilutes  the  oxygen  with  nitrogen 
until  it  is  fit  for  breathing  by  living  men  and 
women.” 

Does  this  analogy,  suggestive  though  it  is,  state 
with  accuracy  the  facts  of  the  physical  atmos¬ 
phere,  or  apply  those  facts  with  precision  to  the 
experiences  of  the  spirit?  It  appears  to  make  of 
Jesus  an  impracticable  idealist,  proposing  a  rule 
of  life  which  it  is  impossible  to  practice,  save  in 
some  “parasitic”  group  of  mendicant  Franciscans 
or  communistic  separatists.  The  only  consistent 
Christian  would  be,  it  infers,  a  follower  of  Tolstoi, 
who  “takes  the  precept  not  to  resist  evil  almost 
literally,”  and  the  realization  of  whose  programme 
would  “bring  to  an  end  the  possession  of  property, 
civil  organization  and  government,  and  even 
domestic  life.”  “Pauline  morality  is  adapted  to 
settled  societies,  not  to  wandering  bands  of  en¬ 
thusiasts.  .  .  .  This  is  the  transmutation  which 
was  begun  and  partly  carried  out  by  Paul.”  So 
sweeping  a  denial  of  practicability  for  the  teaching 
of  Jesus,  and  so  restricted  a  definition  of  his  mes¬ 
sage,  as  covered  by  the  single  principle  of  non- 
resistance,  must  seem  to  many  readers  an  inade¬ 
quate  appreciation  of  the  scope  and  sanity  of  the 
Gospel.  Chastening  and  appealing  as  was  the 
pacifism  of  Tolstoi,  can  it  be  regarded  as  repro- 


MESSENGER  AND  MASTER 


279 


ducing  the  dominant  teaching  of  Jesus,  or  did  it, 
on  the  contrary,  detach  one  incidental  saying  from 
a  rich  and  many-sided  message,  and  test  the 
Christian  character  by  a  single  and  often  imprac¬ 
ticable  rule? 

Or,  to  return  to  the  analogy  proposed,  must 
it  be  admitted  that  the  teaching  of  Jesus  is  too 
pure  to  inhale,  and  that  it  must  be  “ diluted” 
before  it  can  be  breathed?  Is  not  the  real  con¬ 
trast,  in  the  spiritual  as  in  the  physical  atmosphere, 
rather  one  of  the  level  of  life  and  of  the  varying 
barometric  pressure  which  one  encounters?  It  is 
quite  true  that  physical  health  is  more  easily 
maintained  at  a  moderate  level  where  the  atmos¬ 
pheric  pressure  is  normal,  and  that  as  one  ascends 
to  a  great  height,  the  pressure  is  reduced  and  one’s 
breath  is  quickened  in  the  rarefied  air;  but  it  is 
also  true  that  what  one  needs  on  those  heights  is 
not  less  oxygen  but  more.  The  daring  English¬ 
men  among  the  precipices  of  Mount  Everest  were 
in  danger  of  dying,  not  from  breathing  pure  oxygen, 
but  from  the  lack  of  it  to  breathe.  As  the  baro¬ 
metric  pressure  was  reduced,  nothing  but  an  added 
supply  of  oxygen  could  revive  their  strength  to 
climb.  Is  not  this  the  real  significance  of  the 
interesting  analogy  proposed?  It  is  quite  true 
that  the  nitrogen  of  alien  ideas  made  Paul’s  teach¬ 
ing  more  easily  inhaled  by  the  Hellenic  world,  and 
that  the  principles  and  maxims  derived  from  Paul 
still  offer  easier  breathing-places  for  ordinary 
experience  than  does  the  lofty  teaching  of  his 
Master.  But  when  one  is  called  to  ascend  to  the 


280  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MODERN  WORLD 

higher  levels  of  life,  and  reaches,  or  even  approaches, 
the  summits  of  trial,  sorrow,  vision,  communion, 
or  love,  where  the  atmospheric  pressure  of  the 
ordinary  world  is  diminished  and  the  air  is  rare¬ 
fied,  then,  if  the  quickened  breath  is  to  be  quieted 
and  the  strength  to  climb  restored,  it  must  be,  not 
by  a  diluting  of  the  atmosphere,  but  by  a  fresh 
supply  of  pure  oxygen;  and  the  life  which  cannot 
sustain  itself  from  its  own  resources  breathes  more 
freely  as  it  inhales  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus. 
When  such  an  ascent  summons  one  from  a  nar¬ 
row  horizon  and  low  environment  to  the  heights 
of  contemplation  or  resolution  or  hope,  it  is  reas¬ 
suring  to  discover  that  even  so  great  a  soul  as  that 
of  the  Apostle  Paul  has  gone  the  same  steep  way, 
from  the  valleys  to  the  hills.  On  the  lower  level 
his  life  is  sufficiently  sustained  by  the  atmosphere 
of  his  own  time;  but  when  he  goes  up  to  the  sum¬ 
mit  of  his  argument,  or  mounts  from  argument  to 
vision,  then,  in  that  rarefied  air,  what  he  needs 
and  prays  for,  as  with  a  cry  for  help,  is  a  fresh 
supply  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  The  Messenger 
turns  to  the  Master  as  to  a  guide  who  is  at  home 
on  these  heights,  and  with  a  fresh  inhalation  of 
energy  and  hope,  Paul  exclaims:  “It  is  no  longer 
I  who  live,  Christ  lives  in  me!” 


INDEX 


Acta  Pauli  et  Theklcs,  257. 

Acta  Sanctorum,  69. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  12,  23,  41  f., 
59  ff.;  chap,  ix  and  parallels, 
54  ff.;  chap.  xv.  6-29,  62  ff.; 
chap,  xxvii.  27-44,  67;  see  also 
Athens,  Lystra. 

Agrippa,  Herod,  II,  66. 

Alexander,  A.  B.  D.,  232,  246. 
Allegory,  51,  88,  136  f. 

Ananias,  56. 

Angels  or  daemons,  113,  115  f., 
118, 138  ff. 

Antichrist,  84. 

Antioch,  60,  61,  62,  63,  65. 
Apollos,  91. 

Aquila  and  Priscilla,  7,  222. 
Arabia,  57. 

Aristotle,  48,  236,  247. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  2,  23  f.,  80. 
Athens,  46,  64  f.,  83, 122, 156,  269, 
273  f. 

Augustine  of  Hippo,  14,  55,  69  f., 
158,  203. 

Bacon,  B.  W.,  n,  84,  159. 
Baptism,  204  ff. 

Barbour,  G.  F.,  246. 

Barnabas,  58,  60,  61,  62,  63,  64. 
Baruch,  Apocalypse  of,  144. 
Black,  Hugh,  240. 

Bousset,  W.,  132,  148,  161,  167, 
181,  207. 

Brooks,  Phillips,  179,  271. 
Browning,  Robert,  76,  270. 
Buckley,  G.  W.,  259. 

Butler,  Samuel,  209  f. 

Cadbury,  H.  J.,  x,  149. 

Caesarea,  65,  66. 


Caird,  E.,  164,  173. 

Caius,  68. 

Calvin,  John,  153,  158. 

Campbell,  J.  M.,  157. 

Carre,  H.  B.,  138. 

Cecil,  Lady  Gwendolen,  185. 
Cephas,  see  Peter. 

Christ,  see  Jesus  Christ. 
Christology  of  Paul,  in  f.,  113  ff., 
119  f.,  158  ff. 

Chrysostom,  101. 

Church,  Paul’s  doctrine  of,  28,  49, 
221  ff.,  254  f. 

Clement  of  Rome,  68,  229  f. 
Cohu,  J.  R.,  133. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  81,  101. 

Colet,  John,  73,  82. 

Colossians,  Epistle  to,  67,  ii3ff. 
Common  Prayer,  Book  of,  209. 
Conscience,  237  ff. 

Corinth,  7,  65,  87,  90. 
Corinthians,  First  Epistle  to, 
90  ff.,  264  ff.;  chap,  xiii,  94,  252, 
265  ff.;  chap,  xv,  95  ff-»  iQ5  ff.; 
Second  Epistle,  99  ff.;  chaps, 
x-xiii,  99;  chaps,  iv.  7-v.  10, 

197  ff- 

Creeds,  ix,  10  ff.,  28  f.,  36,  153, 
165,  166  f.,  209. 

Cyprus,  61,  64. 

Daemons,  see  Angels. 

Damascus,  54  ff.,  57. 

Deissmann,  A.,  19. 

Docetism,  120. 

Dodd,  C.  H.,  69,  254. 

“Ecce  Homo,”  252. 

Eckhart,  Meister,  176  f. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  178. 


282 


INDEX 


Enoch,  Apocalypse  of,  144. 

Epaphroditus,  no,  in. 

Ephesians,  Epistle  to,  43,  67, 
109  f.,  113  S. 

Ephesus,  6,  65,  91,  108. 

Epistles  of  Paul,  72-126;  authen¬ 
ticity,  43,  82;  style,  47,  72  ff.; 
autobiographical  passages,  57  f., 
70  f.,  86  f.,  236;  signature,  85, 
88;  greetings,  85,  108,  272; 
personal  note  in,  107  f.,  112, 
120  f.,  123,  258.  See  also 

Colossians,  Corinthians,  etc. 

Eschatology  of  Paul,  83  ff.,  96  f., 
142  ff.,  231. 

Ethics  of  Paul,  107,  118,  145,  228- 
255;  relation  to  eschatology, 
144  f.,  231;  relation  to  theology, 
171,  172  f.,  228  f. 

Eusebius,  68. 

Fairbairn,  A.  M.,  42. 

Faith,  in  Paul’s  teaching,  186. 

Farrar,  F.  W.,  102,  270. 

Fatalism,  153. 

Fear,  218. 

Felix,  102,  248. 

Festus,  66,  102. 

Forsyth,  P.  T.,  25,  27. 

Fowler,  W.  W.,  232. 

Fox,  George,  158,  177. 

Francis  of  Assisi,  13,  131,  203. 

Friends,  Society  of,  183  f. 

Galatia,  61. 

Galatians,  Epistle  to,  57  f.,  86  ff., 
102. 

Gallio,  102. 

Gamaliel  I,  19,  20,  45,  52,  57. 

Gamaliel  III,  51. 

Gardner,  Percy,  79  f.,  135,  150, 
247,  277  f. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  8,  161,  187. 

Glover,  T.  R.,  37  f.,  139. 

Gnosticism,  120,  246. 

God,  Paul’s  doctrine  of,  150  ff. 

Godet,  F.,  101  f. 

Goethe,  80  f. 


Grace,  in  Paul’s  teaching,  151  f., 

186. 

Growth,  moral,  242  ff. 

Gummere,  R.  M.,  102,  232. 

Guy  on,  Madame,  177. 

Harnack,  A.  von,  35  f.,  41  f. 

Hatch,  E.,  31,  33,  148. 

Headlam,  A.  C.,  244. 

Heitmiiller,  W.,  171,  207,  208,  216. 

Hendrick,  E.,  17. 

Hillel,  45. 

Hope,  186. 

Hiigel,  F.  von,  179. 

Hutchinson,  F.  E.,  90,  237. 

Iconium,  61. 

Idols,  93. 

Immortality,  see  Resurrection. 

Inge,  W.  R.,  72,  125,  133,  186. 

Irenaeus,  132,  229. 

Jacks,  L.  P.,  142,  158. 

Jackson,  F.  J.  F.,  and  K.  Lake,  29. 

Jacoby,  H.,  6,  84. 

James,  58. 

James,  William,  55,  178. 

Jameson,  Mrs.  A.  B.,  8. 

Jerome,  68. 

Jerusalem,  18,  19,  31,  45,  5°,  5G 
57,  58,  60,  61,  62,  65  f.;  council 
at,  41,  58,  62  f. 

Jesus  Christ,  modern  attitude  to, 
1  ff.;  contrast  with  Paul,  5  ff., 
17,  58  f.,  191  f-,  244,  256  ff., 
276  b;  transfiguration,  9,  1x9, 
181  f.,  259  f.;  interpreted  by 
Paul,  10  ff.,  28  f.,  31  ff.,  38, 
hi  f.,  113  ff.,  119  f.,  261  f.; 

agreements  with  Paul,  13,  35, 
59,  193  f.,  202  f.,  219,  241,  245, 
251  ff.,  262  ff.,  276  f.;  Paul’s 
knowledge  of,  15,  17  ff.;  at 
Gethsemane,  19;  Paul’s  refer¬ 
ences  to  his  life  and  teaching, 
22  f.,  164,  267  f.;  Paul’s  indif¬ 
ference  to  his  historical  career, 
1x9,  163  f.;  as  Lord,  160,  161; 


INDEX 


283 


deity  of,  160,  161;  humanity  of, 
163  ff.;  identified  with  the 
Spirit,  163, 165  f.,  175  f.;  humor, 

259. 

John,  Gospel  of,  12,  59,  120,  162, 
202,  211,  227,  266. 

Jones,  R.  M.,  179,  184. 

Jowett,  B.,  133,  232,  246,  257. 
Joy,  218  ff. 

Judas  of  Galilee,  20. 

Juncker,  A.,  160,  249. 
Justification,  189  f. 

Justin  Martyr,  215. 

Keats,  John,  139. 

Kempis,  Thomas  h,  13. 

Kennedy,  H.  A.  A.,  30,  79,  207. 
Kirkisani,  16. 

Kostlin,  J.,  70. 

Lagarde,  Paul  de,  14  f. 

Lake,  K.,  41,  63,  74,  82,  103,  108, 
162  (see  also  Jackson,  F.  J.  F.). 
Laodicea,  109  f. 

Lawrence,  Brother,  157. 

Liberty,  62,  88  ff.,  170,  235  ff. 
Locke,  John,  73  f.,  75  f.,  80,  87, 
117- 

Logos,  113,  120,  162. 

Loisy,  A.,  32  f. 

London  Quarterly  Review,  26  f. 
Lord,  as  title  of  Jesus,  160,  161. 
Lord’s  Supper,  22,  210  ff. 

Love,  94,  251  f.,  266  f. 

Luther,  Martin,  70,  101  f. 

Lystra,  61  f.,  150,  269. 

Machen,  J.  G.,  25. 

Mark,  John,  61,  62,  64. 

Marriage,  92  f. 

Martineau,  James,  34  f. 

Means,  S.,  244. 

Melanchthon,  102. 

Menander,  46. 

Meyer,  A.,  11  f. 

Milman,  H.  H.,  90. 

Milton,  John,  139. 

Mishna,  51. 


Mithra,  Mithraism,  30  f.,  215  ff. 
(see  also  Mystery-religions). 

Moffatt,  James,  2. 

Montgomery,  James,  199. 

Moore,  E.  C.,  271. 

Moore,  G.  F.,  16,  114,  132,  161. 

Morgan,  W.,  n,  29  f.,  133  f.,  161, 
166,  190,  205,  207,  2x6,  22 s, 
246,  252,  260. 

Munger,  T.  T.,  162. 

Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  9,  253. 

Mystery-religions,  29  ff.,  112, 

113  ff-,  146  f->  159  f-»  171  f-, 

206  ff.,  215. 

Mysticism,  176  ff.;  of  Paul,  115  ff., 
156  ff.,  209,  220  f. 

Newman,  J.  H.,  246,  275. 

Nietzsche,  F.  W.,  15  f. 

Onesimus,  121  f. 

Oriental  religions,  see  Mystery- 
religions. 

Paul,  and  contemporary  religions, 
vii  f.,  29  ff.  (see  also  Mystery- 
religions);  modern  attitude  to¬ 
wards,  viii  f.,  24,  38  f.,  125  f., 
128  f.,  233  ff.,  274  ff.;  problem 
of,  1-39,  256  ff.;  contrast  with 
Jesus,  s  ff.,  17,  58  f.,  191  f-,  244, 
256  ff.,  276  f . ;  attitude  toward 
nature,  6;  child  of  the  city,  6  f.; 
as  artisan,  7,  51;  in  art,  7  f.; 
spiritual  conflict,  7  ff.,  21,  54, 
70  f.,  191  f-,  220,  235  f.;  vigor 
of  language,  8,  257  f.;  influence 
on  Christianity,  10  ff.,  24  ff., 
132;  as  interpreter  of  Jesus, 
10  ff.,  28  f.,  31  ff.,  38,  hi  f., 
1 13  ff.,  1 19  f.,  261  f.;  agreements 
with  Jesus,  13,  35,  59,  193  f., 
202  f.,  219,  240,  241,  245, 

251  ff.,  262  ff.,  276  f.;  conver¬ 
sion,  14,  54  ff.,  174  f.;  and  the 
first  disciples,  14  f.,  22,  41,  57  f.; 
knowledge  of  Jesus,  15,  17  ff.; 
expectation  of  a  Messiah,  19, 


284 


INDEX 


21,  143  f.;  as  a  student,  20  f., 
45  ff-,  5o  f.  ;  references  to  Jesus, 
22  f.,  164,  267  f.;  modern  mis¬ 
understanding,  24,  72,  76,  1 17, 
123,  125,  130  ff.;  idea  of  the 
Church,  28,  49,  221  ff.,  254  f.; 
monotheism,  31,  160  f.;  as 

founder  of  Christianity,  33; 
diversity  of  characteristics,  37  f., 
42  f.,  70  £.,  123  ff.,  133,  246, 
269  f.;  life,  40-71;  names,  43; 
descent,  43;  Jewish  elements, 
43,  45  ff-,  50  f.,  84,  136  ff.,  171, 
195  f.,  204,  248  ff.;  physical 

characteristics,  43  ff.,  257;  as  a 
Pharisee,  45,  50  ff.;  Greek  ele¬ 
ments,  46  ff.,  146  ff.,  232,  246  ff. 
(see  also  Mystery-religions) ; 
Roman  elements,  48  f.;  Roman 
citizenship,  48  f.,  51;  as  per¬ 
secutor,  52  ff.;  revulsion  from 
Judaism,  56  f.,  87  ff.;  mission¬ 
ary  labors,  60  ff.;  as  prisoner, 
66  f.,  108  f.;  shipwreck,  67,  71; 
death  and  burial,  68  f.;  letters, 
72-126  (see  Epistles);  variation 
of  mood,  76  f.,  100  f.,  228  f., 
249  f.;  eschatology,  83  ff.,  96  f., 
142  ff.,  231;  ethics,  107,  118, 
145,  228-255;  Christology, 

hi  f.,  113  ff.,  119  f.,  1582. 

(see  also  Jesus  Christ);  mysti¬ 
cism,  115  ff.,  156  ff.,  176  ff.,  209, 
220  f.;  indifference  to  historical 
Jesus,  1 19,  163  f.;  theology, 

127-173;  synthetic  mind,  127  f., 
135  f.,  146  f.,  230;  cosmic  philos¬ 
ophy,  139  ff.,  1672.,  261  f.; 

spiritual  interpretation  of  his¬ 
tory,  153  2-;  religion,  174-227; 
personality,  268  ff. 

Peabody,  F.  G.,  1,  182,  242. 

Peace,  192  ff. 

Peter  (Cephas),  8,  22,  41,  58,  91; 
Second  Epistle  of,  78. 

Pfleiderer,  O.,  43  f. 

Phelps,  W.  L.,  61. 

Philemon,  Epistle  to,  121  ff.,  222. 


Philippians,  Epistle  to,  67,  noff. 
Philosophy,  46,  91  (see  also  Stoi¬ 
cism,  Wisdom). 

Pilate,  53. 

Plato,  232,  236,  247. 

Plotinus,  176. 

Porter,  F.  C.,  195. 

Power,  187  f.,  240  ff. 

Prayer,  200  ff . 

Propitiation,  191. 

Ramsay,  W.  M.,  257,  269. 
Rashdall,  H.,  34,  235  f. 
Reitzenstein,  R.,  139,  207. 

Renan,  E.,  13  f.,  24,  28,  30  f.,  44  f., 
269. 

Repentance,  235  f. 

Resch,  A.,  267. 

Resurrection,  83,  95  ff.,  194  ff. 
Romans,  Epistle  to,  13,  70,  101  ff., 
263  f.;  chaps,  xii-xv,  107  f.; 
chap,  xvi,  108,  272. 

Rome,  65,  67,  68  f. 

Ropes,  J.  H.,  37,  47. 

Rosebery,  Lord,  187. 

Royce,  Josiah,  26,  28,  4g. 

S.  Paolo  alle  tre  Fontane,  68. 

S.  Paolo  fuori  le  Mura,  68  f. 
Sabatier,  Auguste,  222. 

Sabatier,  Paul,  45,  13 1,  203. 
Salisbury,  Lord,  185. 

Salvation,  31  ff.,  169  ff. 
Sanctification,  190. 

Sanday,  William,  244. 
Schleiermacher,  F.  E.  D.,  152, 178, 
183. 

Schiirer,  E.,  51. 

Scott,  E.  F.,  262. 

Seebohm,  F.,  73,  82. 

Self-control,  247  f. 

Seneca,  102,  232. 

Service,  239  f.,  248  ff.,  253  f. 
Shakespeare,  127. 

Silas,  64,  222. 

Sin,  169  ff.,  235  f. 

Singer,  I.,  16  f. 

Smith,  Preserved,  70. 


INDEX 


Social  ideal  of  Paul,  253  ff. 

Soden,  H.  von,  go. 

Spain,  68,  108. 

Spinoza,  158. 

Spirit,  gifts  of,  95,  224  f.;  identi¬ 
fied  with  Jesus,  163,  165  f., 
i75  f- 

Stanley,  A.  P.,  44. 

Stephen,  9,  18,  21,  53. 

Stoicism,  65,  232,  236,  238,  248. 

Strachan,  R.  H.,  6,  259. 

Tarsus,  6,  19,  20,  31,  44,  48, 
216. 

Tauler,  John,  158,  177. 

Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
212  f. 

Temple,  Archbishop  Frederick, 
169. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  Lord,  155. 

Tertullian,  196. 

Theology  of  Paul,  1 27-173;  its 
unsystematic  character,  133; 
its  relation  to  experience,  169, 
184  f.;  its  relation  to  ethics,  17 1, 
172  f.,  228  f.;  wanting  in  the 
Gospels,  260  f. 

Thessalonians,  Epistles  to,  82  ff. 

Thessalonica,  6,  83. 

Timothy,  83,  99,  no. 


285 

Timothy  and  Titus,  Epistles  to, 
43,  120  f. 

Titius,  A.,  267,  268. 

Titus,  99  f. 

Tolerance,  93,  239. 

Tolstoi,  Count  Leo,  278. 

Tongues,  gift  of,  95,  223  ff. 

Toy,  C.  H.,  161,  238. 

Troeltsch,  Ernst,  163,  175  f. 

Underhill,  Evelyn,  157,  176,  177. 
Unity,  Christian,  49,  90  ff.,  226  f. 

Watkinson,  W.  L.,  246. 

Watts,  Isaac,  218  f. 

Weinel,  H.,  44,  46,  133,  224,  233, 
258. 

Weiss,  J.,  18,  152,  185,  232,  262, 
268. 

Wesley,  John,  70,  236  f. 
Westminster  Confession,  153. 
Weymouth,  R.  F.,  18,  54,  194,  195. 
Wilamowitz-Mollendorff,  U.  von, 
47  f->  147- 

Winchester,  C.  T.,  70. 

Wisdom,  225,  246  f. 

Wrede,  W.,  24,  44,  168,  260. 
Wiinsche,  A.,  219. 

Zangwill,  I.,  219. 


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